Disowned— Harry Potter Fanfiction
by aaronlittleton
Summary: Leonora Bishop, disowned from the most renowned family of the Dark Arts, finds herself struggling in a world where everyone is against her. After finding out that she and Harry Potter are cousins, Leonora finds it harder to push away blossoming friendships. What will happen when tragedy strikes and who will be by her side for the ride? Trigger Warning: Mental illness, PTSD,selfharm
1. 1

The sun was setting behind the Forbidden Forest, casting the tree's shadows onto the surrounding ground. The sky was orange, then soon it was red, and finally navy blue speckled with bright stars. Students gathered around until the next Thestral-pulled carriage arrived.

Leonora found herself in a carriage with some Ravenclaws she didn't recognize, and gazed off at the colorful night sky to reminisce of the lost summer.

Although it had only been a few months since Leonora left Hogwarts, she felt like a completely different person. So much had changed and she found herself wishing the past back.

But she couldn't.

She couldn't take back the summer, but if there was a spell to make that happen she would go through hell and back to find it. Being disowned by one of the oldest ancient families was no small feat.

Upon arriving at the highly protected castle, Leonora literally bumped into an old friend - Neville Longbottom.

"Sorry - Oh, Leo," Neville gasped as he recognized the girl stood beside him.

"Hi," Leonora said, immediately looking to her feet as the crowd shuffled through the entrance hall. She knew that he would have heard by then what happened. It was on the front cover of The Daily Prophet at least once in the past few weeks.

"I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I'm always he- . . ." Neville just about whispered as he leaned down for the shorter student to hear him above everyone else's excited chatter.

"You're right, I don't want to talk about it," The girl cut him off, her cheeks growing even redder by the second.

Neville's face also began to look flustered as they continued to walk to the Great Hall for the feast. She doltishly expected the incident to stay between her and her family, but of course they wouldn't do this for her. Or anything.

Her family. A topic that she had been accustomed to ignore - going to extreme lengths such as Occluding for very long periods of time. It had taken her years to master, as she had the desire to keep her thoughts hidden even as a young witch.

Occlumency, she found, forced her to repress her feelings and hide them where nobody could find them; not even herself. It eased the pain.

Leonora slowly eased back into reality and enjoyed a rather silent meal sitting across from Neville at the Gryffindor table. He was often taken away from their silence battle with comments from Seamus or Ron about how especially good they believed the food to be that year and predictions for Quidditch.

Personally, Leonora disliked the 'Golden Trio,' as they were called. Harry was much so arrogant, although she did not write off his many accomplishments. She believed that Ron was a close minded slob who, very unlike his sister, didn't know how to keep his mouth shut. Leonora then decided that Hermione wasn't all so bad - besides her need to know every single little detail about every single topic.

But maybe it was because it was instilled into her brain ever since she was born to dislike the traits that Gryffindors showed; growing up in a household of Slytherins with the most Slytherin bloodline in history impacted her development a great deal.

But that summer, her parents had enough of their daughter's Gryffindor ways. Leonora couldn't remember a time when her and her parents were civil. They had clashing personalities, even though she was probably one of the least Gryffindor Gryffindors.

When Leonora got disowned, her sister, Elettra, offered her home up for her little sister to dwell in until she was of age. It wasn't much as she had just left Hogwarts and was still living off her inheritance money from the Bishop family. Leonora would have bought her own place with her share, but as one gets disowned, they also lose their right to the family's money.

She was left alone by the other students until dessert was served. She was too busy Occluding her mind and nibbling on a cookie to realize that Ginny and Hermione had switched seats and the know-it-all was sitting next to her.

"Leonora." She felt a slight touch on her arm.

The girls' head snapped to the soft voice and she whipped her hand from the contact with the Muggleborn.

"Granger," She sternly replied.

Hermione's eyes widened at the formal use of her last name, but didn't back down. The whole end of the table was watching the interaction play out, no doubt that their wands were drawn under the table in case the angry girl lashed out.

"I only mean to inform you that if you are ever in need of assistance, don't hesitate to come to us. All of us," Hermione explained confidently.

"I can not image such a situation where I will need your assistance, but if one arises, I will keep that in mind," Leonora looked between her, Harry, and Ron, trying to make their pity disappear.

She noticed that Hermione's grieved face only got worse at that statement.

"We have heard about your situation and we, well, . . . I, hoped that we could help alleviate you from some burdens?" Hermione continued to talk but in a much more hushed tone than before.

"Burdens?"

Hermione hesitated before speaking, looking between her and her close friends to make sure she could continue. Ron and Harry gave her a nod.

"We have some . . . influence with Dumbledore. If you want to change your housing situation, as I heard you're housed with Elettra, we would be glad to help make that happen."

Of course, Gryffindors always assumed that one would rather be anywhere than be with a Slytherin. Leonora thought that to be very close-minded, especially coming from the S.P.E.W. founder.

"I don't mind my situation, and I find it rather unnerving for you three to invade on my personal life. And if you'll excuse me, I have some rather personal matters to attend to,"

Leonora quickly said goodbye to the all-listening Neville and headed for the Tower. She didn't want to get any more pity from anyone, so what better place to hide than the dormitories?

The witch spent the rest of the evening organizing her things into the shelf by her claimed bed and charming the room to her liking. Her curtains had a muffling charm on them, she had a fluffy rug underneath her feet, and she transfigured a hair pin into a book end for her shelf. Life couldn't get any better, could it?

But, all happiness must fade, as she believed to be true. Leonora did not yet have the strength to Occlude while trying to sleep; it was her thoughts that kept her awake to hear the other girls enter the room.

"Leonora, are you awake?" Hermione audibly asked, and the girl groaned in reply.

"Sorry for waking you, but the Headmaster wants to see you."

Leonora quickly pushed herself up and sat on her bed to face Hermione.

"Did he mention the reason?"

"No. He's waiting outside the portrait for you now, so it seems urgent."

Leonora jumped out of her bed, fixed her hair, and dusted off her robes. She rushed down the winding stairs to meet Dumbledore.

As she stepped out of the Gryffindor's portrait, the Headmaster wasted no time. He hurriedly lead her to his office in a mere five minutes; the girl had to almost jog to keep up with his very long and important strides.

"As you may have concluded, we are in a dire situation," Dumbledore stated as he and the dark-haired girl entered his office.

"What is it, sir?" Leonora questioned after taking a seat in the chair across from Dumbledore.

"As you know, the Dark Lord has risen. He wishes to get his hands on Mr. Potter any way that he can, and we have recently found out that number 4 Privet Drive is no longer."

"What?"

"The house that Harry resided in has been destroyed, Miss Bishop."

"I don't understand, sir. What does this have to do with me?" Leonora felt a tang of remorse for how she acted towards Harry at the Feast, but she quickly pushed that down and out of her mind.

"Yes, that. Another recent revelation. It was hard to track you down, we had some of our best Aurors even go to muggle hospitals for the birth records, and we have found that you and Mr. Potter are second cousins. This makes you eligible for an emergency blood ward, if you are willing," The Professor explained rather quickly, not waiting for the girl to comprehend the situation.

"What do you mean Potter and I are second cousins? I didn't think the Potter and Bishop lines intertwined in the past century,"

"Yes, that is true. But you are not a Bishop," Dumbledore stated.

"Sir?"

"Yes, yes, I'll explain. There's time. Your parents didn't give birth to you, but a squib. It was rather difficult to go about proving this with concrete evidence but people had their suspicions. The baby was born with platinum blonde hair and the next week the baby's hair was almost black."

"I was switched out with a squib? Was I muggleborn?" Leonora gaped, her mouth wide open with disbelief.

"Precisely. As you may recall, Mr. Potter's mother was muggleborn. Lily Evans. We tracked all magical births to the span of a week when your parents gave birth to the squib, and took other measures to make sure that you and him are actually related."

"So how exactly am I related to Potter?" She interrogated, the Headmaster noticing the tone in her voice.

"Lily Evans cousin, Eleanor Evans, is your mother. Harry's mother and your mother are cousins, making you second cousins. Nothing is known about the father."

"Ah." Leonora nodded, hiding her discontentment towards being related to The-Boy-Who-Lived, and also being a muggleborn. She knew she shouldn't be ashamed of the latter, but she was raised in a blood purity obsessed household. She couldn't help but have some discrimination tendencies rooted in her brain.

"Why would my parents rather have a muggleborn child than a squib?" The witch wondered out loud.

"Having a squib in the family almost taints the line, although very common in pure-blood families. They'd rather have a muggleborn child and nobody know than bring dishonor to the Bishop name. It is very common for wizarding families to keep squibs a secret, but this is the first switch I've encountered."

"Alright. I guess that makes sense. So. . . what's this blood ward stuff? Why couldn't any of Potter's other relatives take part in it?"

The young girl noticed the hesitation with the man standing across the desk in front of her. She couldn't help but wonder what he was hiding from her, and why.

"That is not of import, dear. What is of import is sealing the new ward between you and Mr. Potter as soon as possible. The Order is waiting."

"The Order, sir?"

"Yes, is it the same Order as from the war before you were born. You will see when we get there. There's no more time for questions." Dumbledore held his forearm for Leonora to take as they apparated from the school.

Instantaneously the girl was in a different room, but she didn't take much notice as she was clutching her stomach and gasping for air. Disapparating was not something she was quite familiar with.

After catching her breath she examined the room she stood before. The floors were dark and made of creaky wood, the walls grey with many gaps in the wallpaper. There was a fireplace adjacent to the doorway to what seemed like an upwards stairway. There was a couch and a couple of seats across from the fireplace, looking almost as old as Dumbledore himself. There were dusty books and empty vials sitting on the coffee table and, looking at the book, she realized it was a Potions book.

The atmosphere was almost deadly silent as she realized she was in the room alone.

"Professor?" The girl called out.

Footsteps echoed in the house and Leonora was caught by surprise when Harry Potter appeared in the doorway.

"Bishop."

"Potter."

They stood in silence for only a few moments before their stares were cut short by her former professor.

"Lupin?"

"Come, follow me," The professor ignored Leonora's rude greeting and led the two students to a closed door which they could hear muffled talking. The werewolf knocked on the door with a rythmed sequence.

The door opened to reveal a kitchen with an obviously oversized table in the middle of the room. Many of the seats were filled with faces the girl couldn't recognize, but the most shocking face was Snape.

Instead of expressing her confusion out loud, she remained silent until she was explained the dire situation. Harry took a seat next to Mrs. Weasley, so she took the seat on the opposite side of Harry.

"This is Miss Leonora Bishop, as we were talking about before. This is the young lady who we are going to assist with the blood wards tonight. Harry's cousin," Dumbledore explained to the adults at the table. Some gasped in shock as they recognized her as a Bishop - the family with almost as much dedication to the Dark Lord as the Malfoy family.

Frantic whispers and murmurs between the adults started, but were soon silenced by Dumbledore clearing his throat. He looked to Leonora next, motioning for her to stand up and speak.

The girl shakily stood up, quickly concealing her nervousness with confidence as she stuffed her trembling hands into her robes pockets.

"Tell them your allegiances," Dumbledore softly spoke. The witch nodded in compliance.

"This summer, I was disowned by my parents, as I'm sure you've read in The Prophet," Leonora sneered the newspaper name like poison. "But, it was not just because I am the first Gryffindor Bishop in decades. It was because I refused to take the Dark Mark."

Leonora quickly sat down and let the Headmaster take over, ignoring the questioning stares and shocked gasps from the other members.

"Well said. If anyone has any concerns, you can address them at the next meeting. Right now, Harry's safety is our concern," Dumbledore spoke, glancing at the boy with glistening eyes.

It didn't take long for the room to clear out, as the Headmaster wanted some privacy to talk with Leonora and Harry. The only other adult in the room was Snape, who stood by Dumbledore's side.

"Do you have any concerns before we proceed with the blood ward?" Dumbledore asked, a knowing look in his twinkling eyes.

"What exactly is a blood ward?" Leonora questioned.

"It is very ancient magic, magic that depends solely on the blood between you and Mr. Potter. Because of the sacrifice his mother made, anyone who has his mother's blood will be able to put up a ward to keep out people who have intentions of causing harm to Mr. Potter," Snape slowly explained, glaring at Harry from time to time.

"You have to be absolutely willing to protect Harry in order for it to work. Are you?" Asked Dumbledore.

Leonora hesitated, not knowing at first if she was willing. Would she let herself be bound to risky, ancient magic with someone who she loathed? Would it be worth overcoming her selfish ways to help defeat the Dark Lord?

Would she rather see Harry dead than the Light side win?

She didn't have to consider that question for very long: No, she did not wish death upon Harry Potter, so she might as well help him avoid it.

"I'll do it," The girl sighed, her cheeks becoming red with embarrassment.

"Harry? Are you willing to let Leonora ward this house with her blood?" The Headmaster probed.

"Yes." The boy said quickly, making Leonora look at the wizard standing next to her. His face was red like hers, and it relieved her to see that both parties were embarrassed by the situation.

"Take this," Her Potions teacher gave both Harry and Leonora the same colored potion.

"What is it?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Numbing potion. Just drink it, it will help ease the pain," Snape snapped at the students.

"Pain?" Leonora asked.

"Did you doubt that casting a blood ward would not require either of your blood?" Snape bitterly retorted. The students just shrugged, used to his berating, and downed the potion.

Instantly, Leonora felt a little buzz. It was hard to feel her toes and fingers, and it became increasingly harder to continue to Occlude. She felt her wall come crashing down in her head and all of the thoughts pour in all at once.

"Let's get this over with," She grumbled, trying to distract herself from her mind.

Snape and Dumbledore led them to the library that Leonora had come in from. She noticed a member of the Order sitting on the couch immediately stand up after they entered the room.

"We will start the ward in here, and the witches and wizards in the other rooms will continue the ward from floor to ceiling," Dumbledore explained.

Once Harry and Leonora were in the middle of the room, Snape cast what seemed like a vial made of the glimmer and shine from his wand. It floated between the two students as Snape incanted for almost a full minute. He then handed both students a knife.

Harry and Leonora looked at each other; what they had to do was obvious.

"Potter first," Snape interjected the staring contest as Leonora sighed in relief.

Harry put his hand over the vial, knife in position. It was almost no time before the small, magical vial was halfway filled with his blood. The Order member gave Harry a bandage to wrap around his palm.

"Thanks, Tonks," Harry murmured.

Leonora repeated what her cousin just did; filling the vial the rest of the way with her own blood. When she was done and Tonks bandaged her palm, the magical vial fell to the ground and silently exploded with a wondrous sight.

Speckles of white and blue magic grew from the impact zone, growing bigger and bigger by the second.

Snape, Dumbledore, and Tonks coerced the shimmer shield to grow. With their wands, they guided the magic to cover the whole floor, walls, and ceiling. As the magic seeped through the ceiling they heard rustling up above and they knew that the other members were helping it to grow as well.

It was less than ten minutes that had passed when the whole house was covered with a blue and white glittering outline. Once Snape checked that it covered every nook and cranny, a small incantation sealed the magic and it disappeared behind the walls.

Dumbledore dismissed the Order, but no one left before saying goodbye to Harry. Nobody spoke one word to the former Bishop. Soon it was just Dumbledore, Harry, and Leonora.

Harry and Leonora sat on opposite ends of the couch facing the chair that Dumbledore sat down in. He conjured up tea and some candies for them to enjoy, but neither child was hungry.

"The house is warded, now. For it to stay that way, you and Harry must make this your home. You are to come here every weekend, unless something arises, to make you feel more at home," Dumbledore explained, looking more at Leonora.

"You want me to feel at home here?" Leonora snidely commented.

"I know that it does not feel homey right now, but with all the time and effort you two put in it just might be worth saving. And besides, if the wards conclude that this is really not your home, Leonora, then it will cease to exist because it can assume that you are not protecting Harry."

"So you want me to move out of my sister's home?"

"Yes. From what I know, this house is an upgrade from your sister's residence. Your trunks are already up in your rooms for you to unpack. You can floo to my office when you are ready to go back to the Tower. Any other questions?"

"Who else can know about this?" Harry asked.

"Ah. The Fidelius Charm keeps you two from telling anybody about this house who doesn't already know about it. You can tell Ron and Hermione about the blood ward but I'm afraid you'll find it physically. . . impossible to inform anybody else."

Fidelius Charm. Another ancient magic that Leonora had very little knowledge of, except that it is very rarely used anymore. She suspected that Dumbledore was the Secret Keeper; the only one who could tell new people about the house.

"Is there a house-elf?" Leonora asked after deeming the question appropriate, but she still received a glare from Harry.

"No, not anymore. I'm sure you can floo back for meals at Hogwarts. . ." The Headmaster tried to explain to the pure-blood-raised girl.

"I'm not that spoiled to expect one just to make a few meals for us two days a week and clean up after my messes. I was asking because it would be easier to restore this house with a magically gifted creature such as an elf," Leonora retorted with anger embedded in her voice.

She disliked how people immediately judged her because of her last name and assumed she was a stuck-up, money-obsessed witch. That perfectly described her sister, though.

"Yes, you'll need help with the restoration of this once elegant home. Professor Snape will be glad to assist you with that."

Leonora and Harry looked at each other with disgust at the realization of the implied meaning behind Dumbledore's words.

"Snape?" Harry spat the name.

"Professor Snape, Harry. He will be accompanying you two to your house every weekend. It is only wise to have someone here in case of an emergency," Professor Dumbledore softly explained, knowing that the Gryffindors would protest.

"Oh, come on. We can protect ourselves. Right, Bishop?" Harry tried to make a rise out of his fellow classmate but instead received a pointed look.

"If it's safer to have somebody at the house with us, then we'll be fine," Leonora addressed the headmaster before turning to Harry in a quieter tone, "We're here to protect you. Wouldn't you think this whole, er, situation, would be irresponsible on Professor Dumbledore's part if he let two students live in a house alone? Especially one who was wanted by the Dark Lord?"

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes at Leonora, mainly because he knew she was right. And also because he knew that she was just putting on a show for the headmaster; Leonora was like that.

"I get that we need someone here in the house, but honestly, Professor! You know that Snape and I do not get along and there are many other options. Maybe an Order Auror like- " Harry's rant was cut short by the clearing of a deep voice standing in the doorway.

Leonora couldn't help but let through a small smile as she saw Harry stop right in his tracks and his face turn a deep red as he noticed the man listening to his complaints. Snape's arms were crossed across his breastbone and his mouth was closed in a straight line. His face was almost neutral, but even from afar Leonora could tell he was pissed.

"We've exhausted all other options, Potter. Believe me when I tell you that I'd rather spend my weekends anywhere else than this. . . place," The teacher waved his hands to the walls of the house, "But you should be pleased that you're to be kept safe, after what transpired in Surrey."

Snape gave Harry a smug look while the boy's eyes grew big and immediately filled with rage.

It left Leonora wondering what happened in Surrey.

"Alright, well I better be off now. I'll trust that you'll take them back to the Tower afterwards?" Dumbledore stood up from his seat and dusted his robes.

Snape nodded at the headmaster as the three watched him floo back to his office. Leonora and Harry stared at their Potions teacher, not knowing what to do next.

"Stop gawking and unpack your suitcases upstairs. And while you're up there, why don't you give Miss Bishop a tour?" Snape coldly commanded, walking down the opposite staircase that led to the basement. From what she could see before the professor closed the door was supply of potions ingredients and cauldrons. It must be where he made his potions.

"Snape needed a safe place to make potions besides Hogwarts," Harry explained while walking up the stairs.

"Why? Isn't Hogwarts already one of the safest places?"

"He wouldn't want anyone, student or teacher, walking into his classroom when he was making a potion for Voldemort," The Tri-Wizard Champion discussed as he showed Leonora the bathroom and their rooms.

"Oh, so that's why he's in the Order. He's a spy."

"Yeah."

She guessed that her bedroom was one of the guest bedrooms that the Black's had. It was simple with no designs that either son would've had; a double bed with white sheets, a dark brown dresser with fancy crystal handles, and a small desk in the corner with a glass lamp on the surface. She noticed that her belongings were left in front of the bed. It was even nicer than her room at home, besides all of the dust and cobwebs that gathered in this one due to it's age.

"Don't worry, most of the rooms have been cleared out. There's no more Boggarts, Doxys, or any dark artifacts in your room. My room is the third door on the left if you need me," Harry assured the Gryffindor girl and left her alone to decorate.

She quickly realized that her pet snake would be suffocating in her wizard-space trunk, so she set out to assembling the tank. She pulled the ten gallon tank out of her trunk and set it on top of the dresser. Her snake, Epsilon Serpentis, named after a star in the snake shaped constellation Serpens, was fast asleep.

The room looked much better than the bleak white theme when she added her belongings to it. The bed sheets were now a royal gold, for Gryffindor, and the walls were not grey but a sleek black. She cast a quick scourgify over the carpet and it became a clean, egg white colour.

After filling out the dresser with her clothes and stuffing her trunk into the small closet for storage, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" She called as she closed the closet door.

"Wow, it's looking good in here - you have a snake?" Harry rushed over to the tank that was atop her dresser.

"No, I don't. That's my owl," Leonora sarcastically commented, making Harry scowl at her.

"Can I hold it?" Harry pleaded.

"Yeah, whatever. Just ask if it wants anything in the tank before we leave." Leonora flattened out the wrinkles from the bed sheets with a lazy flick of her wand.

"Oh, right. Sure," Harry agreed, taking the lid off the top and carefully picking the snake up. It had awoken from its slumber moments before.

"What's his name?" Harry murmured to Leonora.

"Epsilon Serpentis, but I call _her_ Silon," She curtly replied. Maybe hiding her annoyance for Potter was short-lived.

Leonora didn't mind Harry's Parseltongue like other students did. It even almost relaxed her.

"She said she didn't need anything, but she did say that she'd like to talk to me again soon," Leonora could detect the smug look on the boy's face, but it was cut short by Professor Snape's presence in the doorway. Leonora found it humorous that Snape liked to hang out in doorways so often.

"If you're done, I think it was time we parted. I wouldn't want to see two Gryffindors out past curfew, would I?" Snape maliciously grinned, making the two students gasp and retire to the library.

After flooing to Dumbledore's office and saying goodnight, the pair of cousins trekked back to Gryffindor Tower.

"I didn't have enough time to ask you back at- " The Fidelius Charm prevented Harry from saying the address of Sirius' house in front of the portraits, "Er, home. . . but I was wondering how you felt about the whole situation."

Leonora sighed at the sudden absence of silence. It had only been a few minutes since they started walking to the Tower, but she endured the painful conversation anyway.

"I would not rather live at my sisters house, if that's what you're asking."

"Oh," Harry sighed in relief, then, "I was just worried that I'd taken you away from your only family left, considering the conversation you and Hermione had at the Feast. I'm sorry you have to be part of this- " Leonora cut the boy off.

"You're rambling. You don't have to apologize, Elettra is not much of a sister. She only took me in because The Ministry's Wizarding Family Counsel offered five-hundred galleons every over month to cover my expenses. She would've watched me suffer with a smile on her face if she ever got the chance," Leonora cleared her throat, embarrassed by how much she'd rambled, too.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing, Potter!"

"Shite, alright!"

The portraits in the hallway all told them to ' _Shh_!' and ' _Keep it down, we're trying to sleep_!' The two walked in silence with dim Lumos on their wands aimed towards the ground after more complaints from the portraits. Leonora came up with a question for Harry.

"Why did I have to be the one to do the. . ." Fidelius Charm again, then, "Protective spell? What happened to all of your other relatives?"

Harry's face changed from neutral to almost sorrowful in a mere few seconds, but he quickly tried to cover it up with indifference.

"Er, well, when Voldemort found out that the. . . protective spell was used at my old house, he found a way to counteract it. Then, to prevent it from happening again, he, uh, disposed, of all my other relatives that he could find. As far back as he could go, he did."

Leonora stayed silent, understanding how difficult it must be for Harry. If it weren't for him, all of those innocent people would still be alive. Most of them were probably muggles, as she didn't know of a single other alive Potter.

Leonora couldn't help but wonder what her fate would be if her parents didn't switch her with the squib. The obvious answer was dead, and she shuddered at the thought.

They walked the rest of the way in an uncomfortable silence. Leonora didn't know what to say, although she had a trunk-full of questions, until they arrived.

"I'll see you at breakfast, Potter," Leonora said as they parted ways, heading up opposite stairwells.

"Yeah, see you, Bishop."

By the time Leonora got to bed, a quick Tempus proved that they had gotten back way after curfew. Nobody seemed to be awake, and Leonora didn't bother changing into pajamas before throwing herself on her bed.

The events that took place that day mentally and physically drained her, the numbing potion failing to keep the edge off the cut on her palm and her wall being torn down. Not to mention finding out that her parents switched her at birth, purposefully, and that she was actually Muggleborn. Leonora reasoned with herself that that was probably the ultimate reason of being disowned; her family was disgusted by her since infantry, and no matter who she was or what she did, she would always be on the path to get disowned.

 _In Professor Dumbledore's office, Snape and the Headmaster himself seemed to be in a heated conversation. The occasional bead of sweat dropped from Severus' brow and onto the floor. The sound of water dripping onto the marble ground was not mistakable, but the two men didn't seem to notice._

 _"You want me to supervise those two Gryffindors? Every weekend!" Snape bellowed, his face turning red from sheer anger. His hands were shaking from inside his pockets and his breathing was shallow. It seemed much louder than it was, and all that could be heard was the tiny breaths; in, out. In, out._

 _Dumbledore, however, stayed calm. He didn't seem nervous at all, instead, his brow was quirked and he had a smirk tugging on his lips. He was amused._

 _"Severus, you seem like you're not getting the big picture. The Dark Lord will do anything to get to Harry, and if something arises, you need to be on the scene to take care of it. It is very unlikely that if he figures out Harry has been living at the Black residence, he'd venture out there himself. You know him; he'd send a few of his people to collect Harry and bring the boy to him. His people are expendable, he'd never go somewhere out of his comfort zone himself. And you need a lot more time for your crucial potions. Why not get two birds with one stone?"_

 _By the time the headmaster's soft and silky voice stopped speaking, Severus had calmed down a great deal._

 _"Oh, alright, Albus. Are you sure nobody else could do this? It is not beneficial for me to take this position. Lupin? A Weasley, perhaps? Maybe Moody, he's got some time on his hands."_

 _"You have authority over them. They're more likely to respect your decisions and obey you. You could always give detentions and take points off if you view necessary, but I do doubt that they would disregard the boundaries we've set with you there."_

 _Professor Dumbledore unwrapped a lemon drop and plopped it in his mouth, the clank of the hard candy against his teeth almost deafening. Snape didn't seem to notice the noise._

 _"I'll do it," He hissed, like it pained him to agree to the terms._

 _"I didn't think you'd be so resistant, Severus. Miss Bishop is very Slytherin for a Gryffindor, as you must've noticed," Albus replied._

 _"I've noticed she's got more cunning than all of Gryffindor combined," Snape muttered something about incompetent fools and Gryffindors, "But if she's related to Potter, I'd be surprised if she didn't have an audacious bone in her body."_

Leonora awoke with a start, her dream fresh in her mind like it was a memory. She immediately got a pen and a piece of parchment to write down the dream with every little detail before it faded.

The dark-haired witch was late to breakfast, and, when she finally arrived, was scolded by her cousin.

"Why're you so late? These two have been waiting for you to get here so you can tell them that I'm not lying,"

"Unfortunately, it's true," Leonora retorted, giving Ron and Hermione glares before they could ask anything else. In public.

Sitting across from Neville, she engaged in polite conversation about how well Silon had been doing the past summer, and he reciprocated with stories about Trevor. It was not surprising how many times Neville's grandmother almost stepped on his toad; clumsiness ran in families, she guessed.

After breakfast, the Gryffindors had Potions with the Slytherins. Harry and Leonora managed to inform Ron and Hermione of the situation with much more detail, right up to showing the pair the marks on their palms.

Like it or not, Leonora was cast into Harry's friend group. They kept pestering her for more details about her and her family, and how Harry and her were actually related, but she didn't want to indulge the two. She'd rather the whole castle not know she was actually muggleborn, even though she knew it was impossible unless the Secret Keeper told everyone.

"Can you two pests be silent for two seconds?" Leonora retorted, then when they ceased to talk, "Thank you!"

"Leonora, why isn't the Fidelius Charm keeping us from telling them two about the blood wards?" Harry whispered to her, and she visibly cringed at the use of her first name.

"Well, Potter, I assume it's because they already knew about the house. We're just telling them that we did some kind of ancient magic on the house - The Fidelius Charm is only on the knowledge that the house exists."

"Okay, okay. I get it. The house," Harry mocked her use of repetition.

"Shut up, Potter," Leonora sneered through clenched teeth. She didn't know how much more she could take of the boy.

During Potions, Leonora didn't feel the need to concentrate that hard. Building up her wall as well as brewing Alihosty Draught was not that complicated, although there was once challenge; she was partnered with Lavender Brown.

She believed the potion to be too easy for a sixth year class, not to mention the fact that they were partnered up. Leonora came to the conclusion that Snape wanted an off day from observing the class so closely as if any cauldron could explode at any moment.

"Brown. If you don't cut those leaves small enough it's not going to turn out right!" Leonora snapped at her brewing partner while trying to get the temperature right on the cauldron.

Leonora took Lavenders _almost_ finely cut Alihosty leaves and added them to the brew. She handed the stirrer to Lavender to stir, giving her instructions on how to stir, as she started on a batch of the antidote.

Before she knew it, the Laughing Potion was overflowing from Lavenders cauldron.

"I told you to stir it slowly, you incompetent fool!" Leonora hollered at the Gryffindor, taking her wand out to clean up the mess.

It didn't take her long to realize what she said was from her extremely detailed dream about Snape and Dumbledore talking. She usually didn't use just straight up derogatory terms unless it was sarcastic and clever, and she didn't even flinch when Snape took twenty points from Gryffindor.

"How vapid do you two Gryffindors have to be to besmear Alihosty Draught? I didn't have superior conjectures for you, regardless, " Snape sneered at the two students; Brown looked terrified as she kept playing with her hair and looking at the floor, but Leonora seemed calm and cool. She took criticism well, having years of practice with her family.

"Leo, what did he just say?" Lavender whispered to her lab partner, confusion written on her face.

"He called us stupid for messing up but said that he didn't expect much to begin with anyway. Don't call me Leo." Leonora speculated that there was a need for some kind of English Language Arts class; some students at Hogwarts are too dense to realize they're being insulted.

"Oh."

ஓ๑️๑ஓ

The rest of the week went by too fast for Leonora as she was not looking forward to the weekend. Spending two full days and nights with two people who she despised was not ideal; she'd even rather help Neville with some of his extra Herbology projects Sprout assigned him despite her hatred for the subject.

Leonora, Harry, and Snape flooed to 12 Grimmauld Place after dinner in the Great Hall.

"I think we should fix up the library first," Harry announced, getting indifferent shrugs from the Potions Master and his cousin.

It took the trio less than half an hour to renovate the library; the books were dusted, the grime was removed from the fireplace, and the furniture's once bright colors were restored. The room looked as if it had not been abandoned for over a decade. All the while Snape was teaching them the spells to use, probably so he didn't have to help on the next room.

Their professor retreated downstairs to his potions lab, leaving Harry and Leonora to themselves.

"Can I talk to Silon?"

Leonora rolled her eyes at the boy but obliged, despite her annoyance. They walked to her bedroom and she picked up her pet, stroking her a few times before letting Harry handle her. With a small flick of the witch's wand, Silon's water and food dish were replenished.

Leonora ignored Harry and Silon's hissing conversation as she grabbed a Divination book from her shelf and retreated to the library to read.

It wasn't long before she was interrupted by Harry clearing his throat. She turned around from her chair and gave him a threatening glare.

"Er, well, Silon told me to tell you that she misses eating mice and crickets," Harry awkwardly informed the witch, his cheeks turning rosy.

"Well, you can tell her to stop being a spoiled brat and that she'd better get used to those pellets 'cause that's all I've got. Anything else?" Leonora faked a sweet smile, hoping that Harry got her message to stop bothering her.

"If you want, I wouldn't mind getting her food the next time we go to Hogsmeade," Her cousin offered.

"No. I'm not accepting charity from _Harry_ _fucking_ _Potter_ ," Leonora growled, shoving her book closer to her face.

"Oh, c'mon. It's not charity, I just want Silon to be happy."

"You just want to gloat about how much _richer_ you are than I am, now that I am emancipated! You can just fuck off, you arrogant slug!"

Another voice, much deeper than Harry's, cleared his throat by the doorway. Snape.

"Five points from Gryffindor for foul language. That's very unladylike, Miss Bishop," Snape attempted to sound grave, but it was obvious that he enjoyed listening to the girl berate Harry to his face.

"I couldn't care less about being ladylike," Leonora waved off Snape, returning to her book. Harry huffed at the two, wanting Leonora to get in more trouble but not wanting more points off Gryffindor, plopped himself down on the couch in front of the floo and continued his conversation with the snake.

"A Divination book?" Snape mocked, egging the girl on.

"Yes, more specifically, oneiromancy."

"You've been having visions?" Snape asked, his expression suddenly serious.

"No, not visions. Why do you ask?" Leonora was instantaneously interested by Snape's curiosity.

"It could be The Dark Lord trying to get to you. Who did you inform that you and Potter were cousins?"

Harry glanced up to meet Leonora's eyes, both silently accusing the other of letting the cat out of the bag.

"I've told nobody, sir," Leonora replied.

"I told Ron and Hermione. Dumbl- Professor Dumbledore gave me permission to, I swear!" Harry defended himself, putting his hands up as to say he was innocent.

"Have you been working on your Occlumency, Potter?" Snape spat as if he knew the answer.

"Maybe if you were a good teacher I'd know how to!" He retaliated.

"If you weren't too daft to learn from your mistakes, I'd say that after what happened with Black last year you'd give more of an effort to protect your mind from The Dark Lord!"

Harry grew silent and bit his lip, and Leonora held her gasp.

Had Snape implied that Harry was at fault for his godfather's demise?

Harry jumped up from his seat, leaving the snake on the couch cushion, and rushed up the stairs. The two could hear his bedroom door slamming against the door frame. Leonora snatched up Silon from slithering away, and it wasn't long before Snape began questioning her about her dream.

"It doesn't matter, it was just a dream," Leonora bitterly ignored the professor's interrogation.

"If you believed that you wouldn't be reading a Divination book. You need to delineate the dream, and I will be the one to adjudicate if it is significant or not," Snape beckoned for Leonora to recount her dream.

"Fine," She sighed, dramatically closing the book and setting it on the coffee table. "I saw you and Dumbledore in his office. He was trying to convince you to be the supervisor for Ha- Potter and me, here. You were really angry and it took a while and many explanations for why you were the best person for. . . us."

"Was there anything weird about the dream? Something that would tell you that it was just a dream, nothing else?"

"Sort of. It didn't feel like I was dreaming, it felt like. . . I was watching. I don't know if that makes any sense. Oh, and I had sort of a heightened sense of hearing."

"Heightened sense of hearing?"

"Yes. I could hear every breath, water dripping, and every muttered word. I have an exact written version I wrote right after I woke up if you'd like to read that, sir."

"Why didn't you start off with that?" The Potions master angrily questioned, causing the girl to shrug.

"Accio dream parchment," Leonora softly spoke, hearing the clunk of her dresser drawer opening and her papers spilling onto the floor from her room. She'd clean that up later.

Snape intercepted the parchment before it flew to Leonora, his eyes quickly reading her written description. Without a word, he set the parchment paper onto the coffee table in front of him.

"Did you find anything interesting in that book?" Snape asked, avoiding the questioning look the girl gave him.

"Well, yes. It basically says that having premonition dreams means that you most likely have an 'Inner Eye,' but my guess is that this already happened."

Snape sighed, giving in as he started to explain. "Yes. This occurred a few days before the term began. But that doesn't elucidate the amplification of hearing."

"Actually, the book gave sort of an insight to that as well. If one or more of your senses become dominant over the others, that can signify the loss of one of the submissive senses in the future."

"So that does make it some sort of a premonition dream, in an unconventional way," Snape surmised.

"I don't really think it's a premonition. My family. . ." She paused, remembering that she needed to stop thinking of them as family, "they would always joke about my uncle Enedius Bishop. He was caught stealing money from my father and right after that he, coincidentally, got attacked and both of his eyes were scooped out. My parents would always say that he got what he deserved for crossing the family and always said that they wouldn't hesitate to scoop out anyone else's eyeballs."

"That seems like proof to me like you probably shouldn't cross your family anymore."

"No, I just think it was just my mind expressing its fears."

"Quite possibly so, but that doesn't make any sense to how accurate this dream was to reality. Word for word, for what I can recall."

"I have no explanation for that."

"I wouldn't expect you to."

Leonora sighed, looking down at the sleeping snake laying on her lap. She wished she could sleep as peacefully as Silon.

"You should learn to Occlude your mind, for safe measure," Snape suggested, all sarcastic and side tones absent from his voice.

"I don't need to learn."

"Yes, you do! You're just like your cousin-"

"Because I already know how, Professor," Leonora finishes her sentence, her words seeping with attitude. Sensing what was coming next, she immediately thrust her mind wall up. She cleared her thoughts and gazed at Snape effortlessly; eye contact was all he needed.

Before she knew it, she felt something in her head. It was uncomfortable, making her itchy all over. She knew that it was Snape invading her thoughts.

But, after at least five minutes of silence and Snape trudging deeper and deeper into the student's mind, she felt herself break. Thoughts came flooding out and she felt her teacher sifting through them as if choosing which record to play.

 _"Get out of my house before you wish you were dead!" Her father shouted._

Her father's voice became more and more distant as that memory whizzed by and another one came.

 _"There's not much room for you here, but for five-hundred galleons every other month, I'd let a dirty little slut like you sleep on the bathroom rug," Elettra sneered at her._

Elettra's face faded into Harry's, and the next memory was not one she was proud of.

 _With the Slytherins walking beside her, Leonora aimed her wand at Harry's feet and cast a tripping hex. Harry didn't even look back to see who did it, as he probably assumed it was Malfoy._

 _Leonora and Draco Malfoy shared an amused look before laughing along with all the other Slytherins at the sight of Harry on the ground._

Laughter turned into crying, and the witch immediately recognized which memory the next one was.

 _"Take it back, you worthless child!" Her father's voice boomed as his wand was pointed toward eleven-year-old Leonora._

 _"No! I'll say it a million times if I have to! I'd rather dishonour my family by being myself than turn out like the rest of you!" She screamed, tears falling from her eyes as her father cast spell after spell on her; letting her skin boil, turning her limbs to jelly, and even cutting chunks of skin from her body._

With as much anger as she could fester, she pushed Snape out of her mind. She avoided eye contact with the man sitting across from her as she caught her breath and wiped the sweat from her brow. She didn't want to see the look on his face, and she definitely didn't want to see pity, although she doubted Professor Snape would pity her of all people.

The pair retired to bed without a single word, wishing to forget the events of that evening.

 ***Authors note***

 **Thank you for reading this chapter! Please give me any tips and suggestions if you have any, I'd appreciate it very much. :)**


	2. 2

_Harry, Ron, and Hermione were down in the Gryffindor common room, all sitting on the cosy couch in front of the fire. They seemed to be in an argument._

 _"I really don't like her, and nothing you say could make me tolerate her! And you should hate her, for how she treats you!" Hermione scolded Harry, swatting him in the arm with her hand._

 _"C'mon, it's not like she's that mean. Just a little sarcastic and all, but that's how she is to everybody, you can't take it personally," Harry defended the person just as Ron took a deafening slurp of what appeared to be cocoa._

 _"If that's how she is to everybody, then that's another reason to dislike her! Does she go around calling everyone a perky know-it-all?" Hermione asked, anger in her eyes._

 _"Well, you did tell her that she looked like she had just brawled with a kneazle. We had a long night, you knew that."_

 _"What, busy shagging," Ron erupted into full-body hackles just as he bit into a fairy cake from the kitchens. The crumbs being dropped onto the warm floor sounded as loud as Hagrid's footsteps._

 _"That's gross! She's my cousin, Ron!" Harry clenched his hands and his cheeks went red with embarrassment._

 _"I know, I'm kidding. But she really does have a nasty attitude, y'know. She almost even acts like a Slytherin, don't you think?" Ron commented with a mouthful of cake as he grabbed Hermione's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Harry didn't notice the two's affection as he stormed up to the dormitories._

Leonora awoke again and didn't hesitate to record it on another piece of parchment. She thought about picking up a dream journal, but she remembered she had a limited supply of galleons. If she wrote really small then she could probably fit about two more dreams on the same parchment, she thought.

It didn't bother Leonora at all that Harry's friends didn't like her, but it didn't settle with her as to why Harry was defending her.

The girl got dressed for the day in a sweater and black trousers, tucking the folded dream parchment into her pocket. If Snape asked about her dreams again, she could just show him the new one.

Snape. The witch remembered their long conversation the night before, and then the Legilimency. She figured it was going to be awkward if she bumped into the Professor in the large house.

It wasn't long before she smelled something good coming from downstairs, so she decided to venture out of her room.

Following the smell, she ended up in the kitchen and was surprised to see Harry cooking a meal. Leonora cleared her throat just as Harry cracked another egg into the pan.

"Oh, hey Leonora. Do you like eggs? I also have some bacon on the stove, if you'd like," Harry said, his words coated with excitement. Leonora didn't approve of his use of her first name, but she let it slide.

"Sure," Leonora awkwardly replied, and with a flick of her wand, two plates and forks floated from the cabinet and set themselves on the dining table. Goblets flew from the cabinet by Harry's head and he ducked just in time before getting hit in the face. Leonora filled the cups with pumpkin juice with two wand movements.

"You seem cheery today," Leonora commented in between bites of egg, remembering how the night before, Snape accused him of being at fault for his godfather's death.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"So, I've been meaning to ask you something," Leonora began, then, "Why don't you find me intolerable?"

Harry looked up from his food and let his fork clank onto the plate. "Er, well, we're family, you know?"

"I don't think that's a good enough excuse, considering the fact that we both despise our family and I've only been nasty to you so far."

"I don't hate my family! I mean, yeah, I didn't have the best childhood, but they're not family where it counts. I just think. . . it would be nice to have someone that I can count on," Harry tried to explain.

"You can count on Lupin, Dumbledore, your idiot friends-"

"It's not the same. I meant that it'll be nice to actually have family, for once."

Leonora stayed silent, understanding what he meant. The people who raised him were his blood, but they didn't care for him. His friends cared for him, but they weren't his blood. He was desperately seeking someone that he could relate to so he wouldn't be alone, and she realized that she was his last chance. His only living relative left.

She'd be lying if she said she'd never wanted to care for somebody. All her life she'd never known what it was like to be part of a family; her parents and sister had hated her for as long as she could remember and she never made friends, but if she did she pushed them away to protect herself from getting hurt. Everything she had done so far was for herself, and she wouldn't mind caring for someone else, now.

"Alright, Potter. Truce," Leonora held her wand out backwards; the fat end facing Harry. Harry did the same, and as their wands touched, a silver ribbon swirled around their wands.

"So what does that do?" Harry asked after the ribbon was no longer in sight.

"It won't let us hurt each other, no matter how small the jinx," Leonora explained, even demonstrating with failed harmless jinx attempts on her cousin.

"Ah, a truce. Why would you do such a thing? Was it just my assumption that you loathed Potter, Bishop? Or were the tripping hexes out of endearment?"

At the sound of Snape's voice behind her, Leonora's walls immediately went up. She couldn't lose to him again.

"Tripping hexes?" Harry echoed. "Was it you who made me trip down the winding stairs to the Tower?"

Leonora stifled a laugh as she recounted the memory, although it was not the one that Snape saw in her mind. "Aw, come on, that was just hilarious."

"I hit every single step! I couldn't go to Quidditch practice that evening because I was stuck in the Infirmary with Pomfrey fussing over my concussion and sprained ankle!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Leonora apologized before turning to her Potions teacher, then, "I expected you to have some decency and forget about everything you saw."

Snape pursed his lips together before speaking, "Professor Dumbledore will arrive at noon to speak with you, Miss Bishop." He left the room, his robes billowing behind him dramatically.

"What the hell was that about?" Harry questioned once they heard the door to his potions lab close.

Leonora explained about her premonition dreams and how Snape used Legilimency against her while witnessing some of her least favourite memories.

"How do you know how to use Occlumency already?" Harry wondered.

"I read it in one of Hermione's books that she left on her bed a few years ago. It seemed like it was from the Restricted Section. The book said that some people have it easier than others, too, so I guess I'm one of those people," Leonora explained as she and her cousin started washing all the dishes with a few cleaning spells.

"Maybe it's connected with your dreaming thing," Harry thought, making his cousin shrug and mutter a 'maybe' in reply.

After all the dishes were pristine and back in their corresponding shelves, Leonora let Harry read her dream she had that night.

"This is exactly what happened, except I didn't notice Hermione and Ron holding hands. Or that Ron was eating so loudly. This is crazy," Harry exclaimed.

"Snape believes that these are premonition dreams, but I don't exactly. I've always thought of Divination as some sort of nonsense."

"Me, too. But how else would you know all of these details?"

"I don't know," Leonora confessed.

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly - Leonora and Harry worked on some homework together for about half the day before they went their separate ways. Leonora continued to read her Divination book, not sure what Harry was up to.

Leonora and Dumbledore's meeting was brief; only discussing the nature of the dreams and how she was to practice with Professor Snape to guard her mind. He then mentioned something about a letter from her parents.

"I have it here with me if you want to read it. It's been checked for curses and I can promise that there are none."

"I'll read it," Leonora said without hesitation. She was not scared of her parents.

The headmaster handed her a folded piece of parchment. Leonora unfolded it, noticing that the seal was already broken. Of course, Dumbledore read it first.

 _Leo,_

 _My little child. Elettra told me that you've moved out of her house already. What a shame. She hadn't even gotten the chance to get reimbursed for the weeks that you spent there._

 _Upon contacting the Ministry, it turns out that even they don't know where you're living now, either. The Wizarding Family Counsel has reached out to us many times in the past few months with accusations against us, but we are not required to answer them since you have been emancipated. Your father and I would like it very much if you cleared these disturbing allegations at once._

 _We'd all forgive you for the rumours that you've spread, all of us, and we'd be delighted to give you a second chance._

 _Remember your dearest Uncle Enedius? He's getting married, and he's asked me to cordially invite you to his wedding for this coming Thursday at five o'clock p.m. at his residence. I hope to see you there, my lion._

 _with love,_

 _Mother_

Leonora reread the letter almost two times before her reading was interrupted by Professor Dumbledore's questions.

"Is there anything unusual about this letter that suggests something?"

The girl gulped, knowing that she should reveal the truth to Dumbledore as he was going to protect her, but not wanting to make it real.

"She says that. . . She wants to know that I'm living somewhere safe. Also, if I clear them from the Wizarding Family Counsel, they'll give me a second chance to prove myself to The Dark Lord and take the Mark. The thing with Enedius means that there is something planned on Thursday evening and, uh, my father is going to scoop my eyes out. She's warning me to be safe on that day," Leonora explained to Dumbledore.

"That is a lot of information from one letter, Leonora. Would you mind explaining it to me?"

"Sure. My father always reads my mother's letters to me before she sends them, so she's had to fool him while I read in between the lines. I can usually tell that there's an underlying meaning when she uses other names for me and not Leonora. My father is the one who is giving me a second chance to take the dark mark, not my mother. She never wanted me or Elettra to be involved with the Death Eaters, but she has to keep up appearances. And my uncle got his eyes scooped out when he crossed the family over."

"Ah, that does make sense. How do you know that she doesn't want you there on Thursday rather than telling you to meet up with her?"

"She uses lion when she's being protective of me."

"I see. You and Harry are to spend the whole day on Thursday here, just for safe measure. I think Hermione would be glad to catch you up on what you miss. Is that alright?" Dumbledore asked as he stood up and got ready to floo back.

"Yes, Professor."

Leonora was snacking on a sandwich that Dumbledore brought her from the dining hall when Harry burst into the kitchen.

"Do you have Silon?" He asked, out of breath.

"No," Leonora suspiciously answered.

"She's not in her terrarium, either. I just remembered that I left her on the couch last night," Harry replied.

"And then I picked her up after you left and then. . . I left her on the couch, too," Leonora realized.

"Go yelling around the house in parseltongue to see if she answers!" Leonora ordered Harry.

They had gone to every room, looked behind every book and under every chair, and even after two hours, the pair couldn't find the reptile. They were exhausted, but not only had they failed to track down Silon, but they also succeeded in making the whole house a disorganized mess.

"Is it even possible that she could've left the house? Would the ward have stopped her?" Harry frantically thought out loud.

"Don't be absurd! The ward stops dangerous people with harmful intentions towards you from entering this house, it's not a cage for snakes! She could be in the vents, the floorboards, the walls, or just outside the house in general. If she got outside, she probably will get eaten or run over by one of those Muggle contraptions. She's gone," Leonora concluded the search for her lifelong companion, although Harry probably bonded more with the reptile in the past few days than she had in fifteen years.

"I'm sorry, I should've brought her up with me-" Leonora interrupted Harry's apology.

"Stop it with all the apologizing, Potter! It's not your fault. In all the fifteen years I've had her, I'm the one that should know how to take care of her," Leonora solemnly stated, making Harry gasp in shock.

"You've had her for fifteen years?" Harry nearly shouted.

"Of course I have- Oh, you don't know. Well, it's a pureblood tradition to give your child an animal on their first birthday. The Bishop family animal is a snake; everyone in my family has their own snake, and each is enchanted to die when their owner dies," Leonora explained to the awestruck Harry. "Most people don't participate in the tradition anymore because they think it's cruel, but that's just my family for you. Cruel."

"They don't have to be your family anymore," Harry stated.

"I know."

The never ending day finally came to an end after Leonora and Harry spent some time in the library. Harry was playing wizards chess against himself and Leonora was reading another book. She finished the Divination book and picked an interesting book from Sirius' library about snakes, no doubt still mourning the loss of her friend.

ஓ๑ ️๑ஓ

On Sunday, Leonora and Snape spent most of the day working on her Occlumency. It was some of the hardest work she'd ever done, and by the end of the day, she was exhausted.

The next few days until Thursday were filled with antagonizing anticipation for Leonora, and it didn't help that Harry kept trying to get her to be nice to his friends.

"How was your weekend, G- Hermione," Leonora said through clenched teeth.

"It was good. I spent most of my time studying for my Arithmancy exam today and catching up on homework," Hermione answered slowly, not knowing how to interact with the sharp-tongued girl.

"Arithmancy sounds te-" Harry kicked Leonora's shins again, "rrific. Sounds terrific. Definitely not as tedious as the Potions essay was. Twelve inches of blarney, if you ask me," The witch tried her best to be sociable.

"Yes, I do quite enjoy Arithmancy," Hermione politely responded, giving Ron a desperate glance to join the conversation.

"So, uh, do you like Quidditch?" Ron asked Leonora.

"Quidditch? It's not my favourite," Leonora curtly responded, somehow exhausted by all the politeness and insults she had to repress.

She turned to Neville for the rest of dinner that Tuesday to have a chat.

"Where were you the past weekend? I was hoping you'd help me harvest the seeds from the Venomous Tentaculas," Neville curiously asked.

"Taking Occlumency lessons from Snape," Leonora lied, although it was partially true, "My parents are out to get me since I refused the Dark Mark, and Dumbledore thinks it's best if I keep my mind guarded."

Neville's face was full of worry for his friend, partly because her family was out to get her and partly because she had to spend extra time with his least favourite professor.

"I'm sorry," Neville replied with a frown.

"It's alright, I get by fine," Leonora responded to Neville's concern. "You probably won't ever see me on the weekends, unless I have detention or something. This Occlumency stuff is really important."

"Do you think you're going to miss Hogsmeade?" Neville asked.

"I don't think so. If Snape says I have to, I'll take it up with Dumbledore." Neville nodded.

"Hey Neville, do you know anything about catching snakes? I've lost Silon."

"Oh, there's many ways. . ." Neville went on about the ways to lure a snake back for the rest of dinner.

It was finally Thursday, and Leonora was as paranoid as ever. Her, Harry, and Snape were confined in 12 Grimmauld Place that Thursday, each extra cautious. Snape never retreated downstairs to his potions lab and instead spent every minute with Leonora in the library. Dumbledore had obviously informed the professor about the letter, but he didn't look worried. As the girl thought about it, she couldn't recall a time where Snape ever looked worried.

To keep their minds off the possibility of intrusion, Leonora and Harry went about trying to lure Silon out of her hiding spot, wherever she was. In each room, they placed a heat-generating plant that Neville gave his friend. He said that snakes were attracted to heat since they couldn't produce their own. Next to each plant, they placed a dead mouse, which was Harry's idea.

"I'm not joking! Every time she talked to me she always mentioned how much she missed mice," Harry had said to his cousin. Leonora thought it was a ploy for Harry to give her free food that Silon enjoys, but she tried to ignore it as she really was running low on her stash of gold.

Snape rolled his eyes as he saw the arrangement and muttered something about it being their house and they could do whatever they wanted to do with it.

It wasn't long before it was dusk and dinner was history. Leonora could barely keep her eyes on the page of her snake book; her foot uncontrollingly tapping.

"Bishop," Leonora heard Snape say and she looked up from her book. He was handing her a light purple potion.

"Calming Draught," He simply said as he shoved it into her shaking hand.

"Thanks." Leonora lifted the vial to her lips and drank it, appreciating the gesture. She was immediately much more serene and could finally focus on her book.

Only about ten minutes later did something arrive in the floo; a wooden box. She let Snape inspect it first, as it was addressed to her, and when he opened it she couldn't help but laugh at his shocked expression.

"Is this your pet snake?" Snape asked, handing the box to the student.

"Yes, it's Silon!" Leonora gasped at the snake looking back up at her. Without hesitation, Leonora picked up her snake but immediately felt a tugging motion in her stomach, and before she knew it, she was standing inside the Bishop residence.

It was a portkey.

She hated portkeys more than apparation; her stomach was doing flips in her abdomen and dizziness fogged her balance. Leonora could barely stand, and as soon as she arrived, she felt a hand on her arm and back.

"Leonora, you're finally here," A calm and sing-song voice said; it was her mother. She led her to a chair in the lounge and sat with her for a few minutes.

"Mother?" Leonora gasped once she had a grip on reality.

"I'm sorry, my lion. Your father will be home any minute," Her mother apologized, tucking a strand of her daughter's curly black hair behind her ear. The woman stood up and sat in the chair across from Leonora as she was trying to figure out a plan.

Of course, they used her snake against her. She couldn't help but wonder if Harry was safe and what Snape was doing right now; she didn't want anyone to feel guilty after her parents got a hold of her. Leonora just needed a way out.

Her mother hadn't bound her to the chair, so she could technically leave right then. But that would drive her mother to use force against her, and she didn't want it to come to that.

But did that matter? She was ultimately the one to kick her out, so maybe she shouldn't care about her mother having to use force against her. She still had her wand in her back pocket, though, she could just stupefy her and leave.

Leonora reached to her back pocket to grab her wand, but it wasn't there.

"I had to take it, Leo, I had to," Her mother said, sadness in her voice.

"No, you didn't. If you're so regretful about this then why can't I leave?" Leonora battled, her fists clenched with anger.

"There's more to it than that, and you know it. I've got to keep up appearances. If I don't show him that I'm loyal to him and my husband only, then he'll disregard me as just a protective mother when I'm telling him that Elettra isn't the one for the job. She's really scared, Leo."

"So you're choosing Elettra over me? Is it because I'm a Mudblood?" Leonora spat the words at her mother as she flinched.

"You're not going to die here, but Elettra could. And I don't care about your blood, you're still my daughter."

"It wasn't your right to switch us! You ruined our lives! I'm not your daughter, and because of you, that girl is dead at the hands of The Dark Lord! He killed your daughter!" Leonora screamed, not noticing the tears falling from her eyes.

"Your father would have killed her if she was a squib, anyways! I switched her for the benefit of all of us."

"Not for the benefit of me. You didn't care that you had taken me from a loving household and into a cold and spiteful one. I don't care if I had been poorer, all I wanted was a family who actually cared about me!" As Leonora finished yelling, the two witches watched from the window as Rician Bishop walked through the front door and into the house.

"Leonora," Her father's cold voice greeted her, and just when she was going to bitterly reply, his wand was pointed towards her and she was magically bound to the chair. She felt invisible ropes tugging at her as she tried to get out.

"You disgusting bastard, let me go!" Leonora shrieked, making her father tsk and shake his head.

"You see, I can't do that. Not until I've got the satisfaction of seeing that you've paid for what you've done. Going around, telling everyone that we tried to force you to pledge allegiance to The Dark Lord. Spewing nonsense about how you hate us and how we treated you horribly. You're going to pay, child. Crucio!" Rician set the Cruciatis curse on his daughter.

The pain was so unbearable that she couldn't find the strength to scream in pain. Leonora squeezed her eyes shut, and all she could do was wish the pain away.

She couldn't help but notice that her mother stood next to her father with a collected expression on her face. Either she was a really good actress, or she didn't actually care if Leonora got hurt. The Bishops were very a manipulative bunch, so it was never easy to tell when someone was being genuine.

The curse was followed by a string of other curses that she was too out of it to be aware of, oblivious to the amount of time passed. It wasn't until she was given three drops of Veritaserum that her mind cleared.

"Do you think you've paid for what you've done, child?" Her father sneered, leaning close to her for intimidation.

"Yes, although I haven't done anything but tell the truth," Leonora replied in a monotonous voice.

"You tried to bring dishonour to the Bishop name! Need I remind you that it is your name, as well?"

"No."

"Good. So, tell me, Leonora," Her father circled around her chair, then, "Where are you living?"

Leonora clenched her lips together, trying to fight the urge to answer. She couldn't reveal the address, or Harry would be in danger. She actually wasn't positive if she physically could, because of the Fidelius Charm, but she couldn't lie either.

"Hogwarts," She replied, and when she did, she let out a relieved breath. To her father it must've looked like she was tired from trying to fight the truth, so he gave her a malicious grin. But she didn't lie as she did live at Hogwarts five out of seven days in a week.

"Ah, of course, Dumbledore was willing to take you under his wing. Not surprising. I do hope you remember your uncle Enedius?"

"Yes."

"Well, his story is not as gruesome as yours will be. You'll be glad to be blind before you face the Dark Lord tonight. Oops, did I say that out loud?" Rician chimed, and Leonora knew he said it purposefully. He never revealed anything he didn't want to; he was trying to make her afraid.

"I'm not afraid of him, or you. I'm Gryffindor, and I'm nothing like you cowards, kissing his feet just because you are frightened for your reputation. If-"

Leonora's sharp words were cut off with her father summoning a vial filled with a clear substance and splashing it on his daughters face.

The girl immediately screamed out in pain as she felt the acid eating away at her skin and burning her eyes. Soon, all she could see was black and a weird mixture of colour. She suddenly felt the acid being wiped off her face by with a wet cloth. She assumed that her father left her to suffer alone and her mother was the one helping her.

"Mother," The girl cried, her tears only making her raw face sting.

"Shh, I'm here. I'm here," Her mother whispered into Leonora's ear, soothing her by running her hand from her forehead and down her curly hair.

Time passed by slowly, although she didn't know how much time passed until it was time for her to be presented to The Dark Lord. She knew that meetings normally occurred at around midnight and that it was nine o'clock when she was portkeyed to the Bishop residence, so it couldn't have been too long.

Leonora continued to go in and out of consciousness on the way to the meeting at Malfoy Manor, but she felt the familiar tingling of using the floo and the smell of the black powder. Her mother must've helped her walk to the floo.

She was sitting in front of the warm fireplace, coughing from dust caught in her throat. The world was still smudged black, and her head was pounding. Leonora guessed that whatever kind of acid was thrown at her was meant to get immediate attention if it came into contact with you.

"Get up," An unfamiliar voice hissed, accompanied by someone grabbing her arm and yanking her up from the ground.

The blinded witch was then forced to walk down a flight of stairs until she was thrown onto the cold, stone ground. She caught herself just in time from smashing her head onto the floor, and she dizzily swayed back and forth on her knees with no sense of balance.

"Nice of you to join us, Leonora," The one voice that she could recognize in the room stated. The Dark Lord's snake-like voice sounded pleased to finally have the girl of his disposal.

"Leonora. . . don't forget to Occlude," She identified the voice as Harry's, who sounded heartbroken to see her. She was disappointed as well that he managed to get captured, and she couldn't help but think that it was her fault.

After hearing Harry's advice, Leonora raised her wall and cleared her mind.

"Harry? Why are you here?" She questioned in the direction where she heard the voice.

"Enough!" The Dark Lord boomed, and she heard a hissing of a snake. It was definitely not Silon - it was the hiss of a much, much bigger snake.

The whole room went still; the hushed whispers among what Leonora assumed were the Death Eaters ceased. She heard someone speak up, and his voice was clear as day.

"Do you want me to undress that one, as well?" The raggedy voice asked.

"Make it quick. I'd like to see them suffer for a bit," The Dark Lord impatiently replied, and Leonora heard big footsteps coming towards her. Before she knew it, her clothes were ripped off and she was exposed to the whole room. The man tied her hands together behind her back with some kind of curse before he returned to where he came from.

Leonora felt vulnerable, but she then realized that was how they wanted her to feel. Vulnerable. Powerless. Helpless. And she vowed to herself and to Harry she wouldn't give in, no matter how much every single blink of her eyes hurt, or every single hair touching her face stung, or how weak her muscles were. She had to get her cousin out of there because she was the one who brought him there.

"It is very cold down here, don't you think? A bit breezy, if I say so myself. You think you can turn the heat up a smidge?" Leonora casually conversed, not talking to anyone in particular.

"What are you doing?" Harry frantically whispered. Leonora guessed that he must have been close unless he was a bad whisperer.

"You think you're so clever? How about we do turn up the heat," The Dark Lord suggested, and before Leonora knew it, she was getting prodded with scalding hot fire irons on her torso.

The room was filled with the two cousin's screams of pain until The Dark Lord got bored of the muggle way of torture. He ordered his followers to do whatever they wanted with their wands on them, probably for the sake of entertainment.

Half of the time she spent there she didn't know was going on; different people took turns on each of them with strands of curses flying everywhere. Harry and Leonora both tried their hardest not to react, not to give him the satisfaction of seeing them cry in pain. Leonora wasn't so sure if she could even produce tears at that point.

It felt like forever until all of the bugs stopped crawling from underneath her skin, the needle hexes pricking her ceased, and the nail-remover curse stopped at her fourth toe on her second foot.

"I think that's enough play-time," Voldemort cleared his throat.

"Leonora, are you alright?" Harry whispered to her.

"What do you think, Potter?" Leonora snapped, her voice weak and raspy. She felt the acid's effect more and more each minute; her mind was fogging up, her movements were sluggish, and she could barely keep her eyes open. Not like she needed to, though.

"Someone check up on the Bishop. I'd rather she not be unconscious," Voldemort lazily commanded, then, "You're not as strong as you thought you were, child."

Leonora bit her lip, knowing that if she retorted she would get more than cutting words thrown her way. She also thought that maybe he was right. All of her life she'd been stone cold and guarded, acting like she was the strongest person you'd ever met, but on the inside she was weak. She was damaged from her hellish childhood, fragile from her insecurities, but disguised it all with her irritability and arrogance.

Familiar-sounding footsteps stopped just in front of her, and she felt a small breeze in front of her face. Someone, probably a medi-wizard, was running a prognosis spell on her with a wand near her face.

"What's my diagnosis, Medi?" Leonora questioned, and before she knew it, she felt two people holding onto her; one on each arm. She assumed one was Harry, but she had no idea who the other one was. Instantly, Leonora felt the Apparation-tug feeling in her stomach, and the surrounding noises continued to get quieter and quieter until she completely blacked out.

ஓ๑ ️๑ஓ

"I can assure you that I'm perfectly fine. Nothing's hurting anymore, Madam. I'll just get out of your hair."

"Mr Potter, you will stay right in that bed until I dismiss you!"

Leonora felt a sharp pain in her head at the raised voices, and as she opened her eyes, everything looked the same as when her eyes were closed. Her eyes stung as they were exposed to the air and she let out a surprised wail. It didn't take long for her to notice all of the other pains in her body; aching ribs, sensitive skin, lack of toenails, burns covering her whole body, and needle wounds on her arms.

Madam Pomfrey rushed over to the girl's side and set a vial against her lips. Leonora downed the potion despite the foul taste, and almost immediately, she felt the effects of the numbing potion.

"How are you feeling?" Madam Pomfrey softly asked, brushing strands of hair out of her face.

"Better," The girl admitted, her voice scratchy as if she hadn't used it in a long time. "How long has it been?"

"Not long. You've been in and out of consciousness for two days. You're in the infirmary right now."

"Oh. How did I get back? How's Harry?" Leonora wondered.

"I'm good!" Leonora heard her cousin shout from across the room.

"Alright, that's enough shouting. Do you feel up to a medical exam, Miss Bishop?" Madam Pomfrey questioned.

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'm going to test your vision first, is that alright?" Leonora nodded in response.

The medi-witch asked countless questions about the pains in her eyes, even feeling some spots with her fingers.

"Do you see anything?" Madam Pomfrey questioned.

"Not really, but there's a glowing thing over there," Leonora pointed to the dull glow she saw, remembering where Harry's voice came from and assumed it was near him.

"Can you see this?" The witch asked, and before she knew it, there was a circle of light waving back and forth in front of her face.

"Yes, yes I can see it! Is that a _Lumos_ , or something?" The girl excitedly exclaimed, a smile overcoming her face.

"It is. What colour is it?"

Leonora focused harder on the waving light, but all she could tell was it turned from a warm white to a cool white.

"I don't know," Leonora confessed, her shoulders slumping down.

"It's alright, honey. It is a good thing you still have some sight left, or it would be hard to regrow your eyes," Madam Pomfrey reassured the girl and put a comforting hand on her forearm.

"Regrow my eyes? What do they look like?" Leonora curiously asked, putting her fingers up to her eyes.

"Don't touch them," Madam Pomfrey yanked her hands down, then, "Severus has been working on a Vision Balm for you, you'll have to apply it straight to your eyes then. For now, let's just continue with the examination."

Leonora obliged, but couldn't keep her mind off of how Madam Pomfrey avoided her question of her appearance. Could it really be that bad?

"You'll have to stay in the infirmary for a while, Miss Bishop. These burns are very serious and will take at least a week to heal," Madam Pomfrey concluded the examination, excusing herself from the room.

"Harry?" Leonora called out.

"I'm here," He responded, much closer than before. He must have pulled up a chair to her bed, she thought.

"How did we escape? Who was holding my other arm? Also, are you hurt? What-" Leonora was cut off by her cousin.

"I'll explain, and if you have questions after you can ask, okay?" Leonora nodded, wanting him to continue. "We were portkeyed out by Draco Malfoy, yes, Draco Malfoy. I still don't like it, I hate it, but we're alive. Dumbledore told me that your mother and Malfoy's mother worked with Snape for the plan to get all three of us out of there safely, which is something I wanted to ask you if it sounded likely."

"Yes, that does sound like something my mother would do, and Narcissa Malfoy is my mother's closest friend. They both are determined to keep their children out of the trouble that Death Eaters bring about," Leonora explained.

"But why would Malfoy agree to the plan, especially if it involves saving us?" Harry queried, not caring to mask his hate for the blond boy.

"Fear makes people do things they wouldn't do. My guess is that he was desperate."

"That makes sense, I guess," Harry sighed, and Leonora could tell that he didn't want to talk about Malfoy anymore.

"How did you end up in the Dark Lord's hands, anyway?" Leonora changed the subject.

"Oh, uh, that. I used the floo at. . . the house. . . when I heard that you were portkeyed. Someone was waiting for members of the Order to arrive at your house, er, the Bishop house, . . . and when they saw it was me, they just brought me straight to Voldemort," Leonora winced at the use of his name, "I know it was stupid, but I wasn't thinking. I just knew I had to do something," Harry defended himself and Leonora nodded. She wasn't sure she would do the same for him, unfortunately, but she admired his intentions behind his actions. Very Gryffindor-like, even though it almost cost him his life.

"Well, thanks for trying to save me even if it horrendously backfired. But, do me a favour and tell me what I look like." Leonora inquired hopefully.

"Wha- Your face? I mean, it's. . .uh, y'know. . ." Harry nervously stammered.

"That bad, huh?" Leonora commented, her stomach dropping. Harry didn't have time to reply before the doors to the infirmary opened with a loud creak and someone walked in.

"Who is it?" Leonora asked Harry, who gave her a one-word reply: 'Snape.' Harry got up from the chair beside Leonora and returned to his bed.

"Miss Bishop," Snape greeted her, and she heard the man sit in the chair Harry exited moments before.

"Professor," Leonora replied.

"I assume Madam Pomfrey has done a vision exam?"

"Yes, sir. I can see light, but not colours," She responded with a sigh.

"After a month of applying my Vision Balm, I can assure you that you will regain sight. Normal injuries do not incapacitate those with magic as much as they do for muggles," The Potions Professor explained, but Leonora read between the lines. He was trying to reassure her - or even comfort her.

"Yeah, uh. . . I'll be glad to get that sight back," Leonora awkwardly enthused, hoping that he'd read between the lines and see her gratitude.

"Indeed. I have the vial here," Snape put the vial in her outstretched hand, then, "Only use almost an ounce per eye and coat your whole eye with it - including the tear ducts. Apply once a day - I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will remind you." Leonora thought she heard a hint of knowingness of the medi-witch's persistence in his voice.

The witch did as he said, noticing that the professor didn't leave but instead stayed to see her apply the balm. It was uncomfortable as she had to put her finger underneath her eyelid several times, but she felt it was worth it since her eyes needed the hydration.

She noticed how rough and bumpy her eyeballs were, and came to the conclusion that they didn't look so hot either. When both her eyes were coated she gave the vial to Snape who then put it on the table next to the bed.

"Do you remember any of the curses that were used on you before arriving at Malfoy Manor? It would help to understand the physical condition you were in when you received your eye injury," Snape questioned further.

"I don't remember much. I was oblivious to everything that came after the. . ." Leonora paused, almost revealing that she was under the Cruciatis curse, and thinking against it, then, "acid. The acid."

"If you remember anything, inform me," Leonora nodded at her teachers request.

"Is there something else?" Leonora questioned as she didn't hear him get up or leave.

"Yes. Your premonition dreams, Miss Bishop. Professor Dumbledore will be coming down after dinner to speak with you on the matter," Snape concluded. Leonora heard him stand from the chair and exit the infirmary.

Right as the infirmary doors closed, Harry was on the girl's case.

"What the hell was that?" Harry snapped and his footsteps frantically nearing Leonora's bed.

"Was what?"

"You know! You and Snape being so. . . chummy?" Harry accused.

"Am I not allowed to be on friendly terms with one of my professors?" Leonora disputed, a sarcastic smirk finding a way onto her face.

"No, you're not when it's Snape!"

"Maybe not for you, Potter," Leonora spat.

"It makes absolutely no sense! You're Gryffindor, you suck at Potions, no offence, and you're my cousin. There are too many reasons for him to hate you," Harry debated.

"You wouldn't get it. There's no use in talking about it, now. I need some rest," Leonora concluded the argument by laying down on her bed and turning away from her cousin.

She heard Harry huff with irritation and return to his own bed. It only took moments for the girl to fall asleep, as she was tired out from the few hours she spent the day awake.


	3. 3

Leonora was woken up by Madam Pomfrey and ordered to eat the dinner she was brought.

The newly-blind witch found it rather difficult to eat soup, her napkin quickly becoming her best friend. She was glad that she was alone in the infirmary, as Madam Pomfrey informed her that Harry had been released just hours before.

It wasn't long until Professor Dumbledore arrived just as Snape said he would. Leonora set her tray down on the bedside table as he sat down in the chair.

"Leonora, it is good to see you recovering. How are you feeling?" Dumbledore genuinely asked.

"Madam Pomfrey has me on every painkiller she's got, so I'm feeling great," Leonora replied sincerely; she couldn't even feel the healing burns that covered her whole body.

"That's wonderful. I'm sure that Professor Snape informed you of the reason behind this visit."

"My dreams, yes."

"Precisely. The first dream occurred the night of the bloodward, if I'm not mistaken?" He questioned, already knowing the answer before Leonora nodded her reply. "We've come to the conclusion that these dreams were given to you to help you protect Harry. The bloodwards are very ancient magic, magic that not much is known about. It seems as if it takes the job very seriously, as it knows that protecting you is indirectly protecting Harry. If you have another one of these dreams you must immediately tell either Professor Snape or me," Dumbledore finished explaining.

"I will," Leonora assured the headmaster, and then asked him a question of her own. "Madam Pomfrey says I can leave the day after tomorrow. Will my blindness affect my studies?"

"No, it will not. We've had several visually impaired students attend Hogwarts and they managed just fine. If you have any other questions, they will have to wait, as I am already late for my next affair," Dumbledore got up from the chair and left the frowning girl alone in the infirmary.

It deeply troubled Leonora how the headmaster avoided her inquiry, making the girl realize that it was going to be hard being blind at Hogwarts, even if it was temporary. She would have a hard time finding her way to places as the staircases and hallways often moved.

The witch wondered how her teachers would accommodate to her injury, as most classes had visual aspects that were needed to succeed. She came to the uncomfortable conclusion that she would need to be dependent on other people for the next month, and she was greatly unhappy with that prospect.

It was only about twenty minutes after her disappointing meeting with Dumbledore when she got an unexpected visitor.

"Leonora?" The familiar, soft voice called from the infirmary doors.

"Neville?" She called back. He was just the person she needed to calm her down. Their utterly normal conversations always relaxed her and made her feel more normal.

"Hey," He replied as he sat down in the chair beside her bed.

"Hi, Neville. I'd say it's great to see you, but. . ." Leonora joked with a small smile on her face.

"Right, well it is great to see you. Everyone's been talking about what happened, you know, but I don't believe it," Neville proclaimed.

"How would everyone know?" Leonora wondered, then it immediately came to her, "The Daily Prophet," they said in unison.

"What did it say?"

"'Draco Malfoy Saves The Boy Who Lived and Leonora Bishop from Death Eaters," Neville recounted the title, continuing with the summary of the article. "It basically said that you and Harry were tortured by Death Eaters, causing you to become blind and that Malfoy was bribed by Professor Dumbledore to rescue you two. It wasn't very detailed and there are many rumours going around that fill in the gaps."

"That is close to accurate, but not exact. I'll tell you what happened, but you cannot tell a single soul." Leonora explained to her friend in great detail what actually transpired, not coincidentally leaving out the Cruciatis Curse and the fact that Harry and herself were stripped down. It wouldn't hurt him to leave out those small details, she figured.

"So Malfoy really did help you guys out," Neville pondered.

"Yeah, he did."

"Y'know, he's almost been cast out of Slytherin, basically. He hasn't been at meals since the article surfaced and the Slytherins are going out of their way to make his life miserable."

"That is not surprising," Leonora commented and Neville agreed. The two spent almost half an hour more catching up on all she'd missed and discussing being blind at Hogwarts.

"If you need me to, I, uh, wouldn't mind helping you get around, if Dumbledore doesn't offer any other solution," Neville awkwardly suggested.

Leonora pursed her lips, repressing the urge to angrily deny his offer. She knew she was going to need someone to fall back on and she couldn't push him away when she actually needed help.

"Uh. . . I'm grateful that you're willing to do that for me," Leonora replied while doing whatever she could to avoid the phrase 'Thank You'.

"It's nothing, really, I just want to be there for you," Neville answered with full knowledge of what she was trying to say to him. After six years of friendship with the emotionally-guarded girl, he'd learned how to read into her words.

Leonora felt her face turning red with embarrassment and dismissed the topic, bringing up Herbology, her friend's favourite subject. Neville soon left the infirmary to let her rest as Madam Pomfrey insisted so.

"Madam Pomfrey?" Leonora asked the medi-witch who was applying a burn salve to her arms.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering how other blind wizards get about in the world? Like, what tools do they use to help them live with normalcy?" Leonora clumsily phrased her question.

"There are many things a blind wizard could do, and the most common one is Permanent Echolocation Eyesight. It's a magical application done on the brain at St. Mungo's that allows wizards to use sound to picture the world around them. That is rather pricey, I'm afraid, and some people chose the frugal route," The medi-witch explained, moving onto her torso burns; the most painful ones.

"What is the frugal route?" Leonora said through clenched teeth, not wanting to show her pain.

"Having a guide creature. They vary from elves, wolves, and sometimes even kneazles. Each creature has to go through immense training to get certified as a guide-creature before they're sold. Do you still feel pain on your abdomen? Maybe it would be better if you stayed a few more days."

"No, no, it's not painful. I'm just thinking about how I'm going to get around Hogwarts without my eyes, that's all," Leonora lied.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Professor Dumbledore has it all covered. Hogwarts can lease any guide-creature, free of cost, for any amount of time. Having one's creature leased at Hogwarts gives the Trainer a good reputation. Oh, good, your toenails are fully grown," The medi-witch exclaimed.

"That's. . . great," Leonora barely matched her excitement as she remembered the indescribable pain as they were torn from her toes, the warm blood gushing all over her feet. The laughter all around her as she suffered in pain.

"Leonora, what's wrong?" Madam Pomfrey was immediately all over the girl, brushing her hair back from her face with worry.

"Nothing's wrong!" She snapped just before she realized that tears were pouring down her cheeks. "I guess my tear ducts are working again," Leonora solemnly stated.

"I guess so. I'll inform Severus that his balm is effective." The medi-witch hurried into her quarters, probably to send an owl to the potions master. Leonora wondered if she hurt the witch with her retaliation, but she quickly shook her head for even thinking about that. Before, she had never cared when she hurt someone's feelings, so why should she then?

Two more days of insufferable bedrest and uncomfortable visits from Harry and Neville finally came to an end when the headmaster walked through the infirmary doors accompanied by two other unfamiliar footsteps.

"Miss Bishop, this is Eugene Euwell," Professor Dumbledore introduced the man to the student. Leonora held her hand out for him to shake and gave him a firm handshake. It didn't take her long to notice the panting of what sounded like a dog next to her bed.

"And this is Masmi. He is a guide-wolf," Mr Euwell spoke after he noticed Leonora glancing at where the dog sat.

"Guide-wolf?" Leonora questioned as she remembered her previous conversation with Madam Pomfrey.

"Yes. He will help you walk with ease and make sure you get to where you need to be." The man explained patiently.

"Me?"

"You'll have Masmi until you regain your vision," Professor Dumbledore added.

Eugene Euwell, who she found out was the Trainer, then taught her how to give the dog commands and how to walk while holding onto him. The dog came up higher than her waist, and she figured that this was a real wolf and not some dog hybrid.

"Grab onto the handle on his collar. This is how he'll lead you. Forward!" Mr Euwell commanded and the dog started to walk forward. Leonora cautiously walked with the dog, still not used to walking without sight.

"It's alright, you'll get accustomed to walking sooner than you think," The trainer assured Leonora before continuing to practice.

It felt weird for Leonora to put all of her trust on someone else, especially when that someone was an animal. One that she couldn't even see. This wolf had her life in his paws and she wasn't exactly sure how she felt about that.

After an hour of learning all the commands and feeling comfortable walking alongside the big animal, it was time for the trainer to leave and for Leonora to move back into the Tower. It wasn't a surprise that Neville was waiting by the infirmary doors to help her get back to the Tower as Dumbledore mentioned he would send someone down.

"Don't you forget to come back here after dinner tomorrow for your potions, Miss Bishop," Madam Pomfrey reminded.

"I won't," Leonora assured the medi-witch before leaving with Masmi following Neville. She was sure that she wouldn't forget to return to the dreadful infirmary, since those potions were the only things keeping her from feeling constant pain from her injuries. The girl wondered if Madam Pomfrey would keep supplying her with Dreamless Sleep.

"That's. . . a really big dog you got there, Leo," Neville fearfully commented once they were outside of the infirmary.

"Wolf. And yeah, I guess he's pretty big," Leonora agreed, amused by her friend's frightened words.

"So, if you have a guide-wolf, then why did Dumbledore send me to get you?" Neville wondered.

"The wolf doesn't know the castle yet. The trainer says that he will learn where to go after being at each location just once, so I guess I'll need you to accompany me everywhere at least once," Leonora explained.

It wasn't long before the trio ran into other students, as expected on a Monday evening.

"Wolf!" Leonora heard one scream, then another voice calling the child an idiot for not knowing what a guide-wolf was. It only took seconds before she heard whispers about her deformed eyes.

"My ears work perfectly fine, you infant-brained children. Go run along or I'll send my wolf to bite your fingers off!" Leonora angrily threatened and heard the kids scatter.

"That was a bit harsh," Neville commented.

"Did you hear what they said about my eyes?"

"I didn't. What did they say?"

"One said that my eyes looked like they were sucked out by a Dementor. The other one said it looked like something bleached them like the rest of my face. Neville. . . are my face and eyes discoloured from the acid?" The witch honestly asked with desperation evident in her voice.

"Yeah, they are. But it doesn't look bad, okay? It makes you look interesting, not bad, I swear," Neville stumbled over his words while failing to reassure his friend.

"It doesn't matter," The girl shrugged him off, even though they both knew it mattered deeply to her. She didn't want to look 'interesting'. She wanted to look normal, like she had before. Although the witch did figure that it would probably be an easy fix, Madam Pomfrey was presumably just waiting until the student got her sight back to make any permanent decisions about her looks.

As they both suspected when they arrived in the Gryffindor common room, it was very crowded. Excited talking turned into hushed whispers and even silence as the three entered. Word had gotten around that Leonora was to be returning that evening and with an unexpected friend, too.

"Leonora!" She recognized Harry's yelling from across the room, the common room became quiet as they noticed the wolf.

"Harry?" She whispered as he walked to her.

"Everyone, this is Leonora, as you already know," Her cousin started to speak addressed to the other Gryffindors, "And, yes, she was blinded. And, yes, she'll be having a guide-wolf for the meantime. Would you like to say anything?" Harry asked her in a hushed tone. She nodded and cleared her throat, shifting her eyes across the blank room.

"If anybody tries to talk to me now because you feel bad for me, or because you think this wolf is cool, I will not hesitate to blind you myself. Is that clear?" Leonora spat the words, hearing gasps and feeling Harry pushing on her back, leading her towards the back of the room.

"I didn't say threaten everyone! C'mon, why can't you just be friendly for once?" Harry whispered once they were by the window. Leonora could see the glowing moon through the window and it fascinated her.

"I don't care about being friendly. Dumbledore said something about Granger having my missed work?" Leonora raised her voice and looked behind her shoulder as if asking if Hermione was in the room.

"Here," Hermione said as she walked over to her and put the pile of papers in her classmate's outstretched hand. Leonora turned back to Harry without a word to the other girl, hearing a huff from her as she returned to her seat.

Leonora spent about ten awkward minutes talking with her cousin and catching him up on the situation with the premonition dreams and the guide-wolf. He didn't say more about her rude greeting to the Gryffindors, and he didn't have to. She knew he was still upset but she wasn't concerned about his feelings of her unpleasant attitude. Her year was definitely not going as planned and she was allowed to cope in any way that she wanted to.

"Masmi, up!" She commanded to her wolf as she finished talking with Harry, noticing the common room go quiet as they watched Leonora and her wolf walk up the stairs to the girl's dormitories.

Upon arriving in the dormitory, she breathed in a breath of fresh, free air. It felt good to be alone and to one's own devices, not being stuck in the infirmary or in a tedious conversation. Leonora accidentally stepped on what felt like a large mat next to her bed and as she got down to feel what it was, she realized it was a bed for Masmi. She figured McGonagall helped set up her room to be more accessible for her.

"Masmi, this is your bed!" She told him, ruffling the hair around his ears. Maybe having a huge dog to trust for a month wasn't such a bad thing.

The girl pulled the curtains around her and her wolf's bed closed and clumsily got dressed in her sleepwear. As Leonora began to layer her eyes with Snape's Vision Balm, she heard the wolf stand up on the floor and put his face on her bed. She reached her free hand out to pat his head, knowing that he was looking out for her when she was vulnerable. 'Good boy,' She whispered.

ஓ๑ ️๑ஓ

 _Pain. Bugs crawling underneath her skin. Individual tendons snapping, one by one. Toenails being ripped off her toes. Screams of horror coming out of her own mouth, almost unrecognizable._

 _The world around her was black but it was not empty. She could hear Harry yelling beside her, hear the laughter and amusement of a crowd surrounding her. She could hear people muttering curses just before they struck, her muscles tensing up in anticipation._

 _The torture was endless. Not just physical, but her mental conscious was almost worse._

 _Harry suffered because of her._

 _She was daft enough to reach for Silon when she knew what the future could hold._

 _The innocent squib was killed instead of her. It should've been her._

 _It should've been her._

Leonora's eyes opened wide and she shot up from her bed, feeling Masmi's huge paws on her stomach. He must've woken her up from her nightmare. Not knowing if a Tempus would still work if she were blind, she didn't even bother checking before she started to get ready for classes.

When Leonora was dressed and Vision Balm was applied, Masmi led her to the common room so she could study the week's worth of work. The girl frustratedly set her missed work on the floor in front of the cosy couch when she realized that she couldn't read the words on the parchment.

Not knowing what else to do, Leonora sat on the couch in front of the glowing fire and sighed. Suddenly, she heard someone on the opposite side of the couch clear their throat.

"Who's there?" Leonora defensively called.

"It's just me, Harry," He groggily replied.

"Were you sleeping out here?" His cousin asked.

"No, I just, uh, haven't got much sleep. Came out here for peace and quiet. Do you know what time it is?" Harry accusatorially questioned as she felt the couch dip from his position shift.

"Actually, I don't," She sheepishly replied, looking into the fire. It was a warm blaze of yellow light, one of the only things she could see.

"Right. Sorry, I forgot. Well, it's four thirty in the morning."

"It's interesting that you forgot, since I've got a great big wolf with me at all times now," Leonora sarcastically replied as she pat Masmi's neck that was leaning against her legs.

"Maybe I'll mention it to Hermione. I bet she'll find a way so you can know the time." Harry suggested.

"I'd rather not accept charity from her," Leonora bitterly stated.

"I know," Harry sighed, then, "I think we're both down here for the same reason."

"Why do you think I'm down here?" The girl interrogated, immediately defensive. She didn't want anyone to think she was still hung up over what happened.

"First night without a Dreamless Sleep from Madam Pomfrey, am I right?" Harry speculated, not receiving any response from his cousin. "When I first came back from the infirmary, I was so sure that I was fine, too, until I started seeing it in my dreams. Every night. It's the brain's way of coping with a traumatic experience, I've been told," Harry confessed.

Leonora wanted to dismiss her cousin, but he was right. She couldn't stop thinking about what happened. She saw it - well, felt it, everywhere. Every sound reminded her of it, every sensation. She couldn't escape. And Harry felt that way, too.

"I've been seeing it, too," Leonora revealed, her voice, not its usual cold and sarcastic tone, but instead tired and desperate. Harry placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and Leonora quickly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. What they went through that night at the Manor was awful, but what mattered was that they were in it together.

The two cousins sat in comforting silence in front of the fire until they heard people stirring above. Leonora asked Harry to read to her Hermione's notes and they spent the extra time until breakfast studying for their classes together.

Breakfast wasn't as strange as Leonora thought it would be, but she probably would've noticed people staring at Masmi if she had not been blind.

"Have you talked to Malfoy since. . ." Leonora quietly asked Harry at breakfast.

"I have," He curtly responded.

"And?"

"He said not to tell you what he told me before he got the chance to speak with you, himself," Harry left it at that, and that made Leonora wonder if Harry still hated the boy or just didn't want to reveal anything.

"Leonora, did you have a chance to look over my notes?" Hermione asked her classmate, and Leonora did all she could to stop herself from rolling her deformed eyes.

"I barely even have eyes to look things over, so no, I haven't. But, Harry did get a chance to read them to me," The girl snapped, hearing the fifth years conversation next to her pause mid-sentence.

"Mind your own fucking business," Leonora cruelly demanded, facing the two girl's general vicinity. She heard them gasp, grab their books, and scuttle away.

"I didn't mean it that way, Leonora. If you have any questions about anything you missed you can just ask me," Hermione offered, not taking Leonora's nasty attitude to offence.

"Hey, Hermione, Leonora is having trouble with not knowing what time it is," Harry brought up in between bites of his toast. Leonora almost growled at him for bringing it up, but thought otherwise. It really would be helpful to know the time and if Hermione had to be the one to help her, she'd suck it up.

"Oh, that's an easy solution. I can just enchant a piece of paper to always show the time and whenever you need to know, you can just use an Audible Charm. Is there anything else you need help with?" Hermione extended the offer.

"I'd. . . appreciate that. I don't need anything else," Leonora forced herself to sound grateful and failed miserably. The other girl must have understood her feeble attempt at showing gratitude and returned to her conversation with Ron with nothing left to say to Leonora.

When Leonora finished eating a bagel, finger food by choice, she left early with Neville and Masmi for Potions. Masmi tended to walk slower in places he wasn't aware of and the dungeons was an entirely new place for him.

"Sorry for dragging you along to your least favourite class early, Neville," Leonora honestly apologized as they made their way to Snape's classroom. He was one of the few people that Leonora could apologize to with ease, feeling fully comfortable around the boy.

"It's alright, I-I don't mind being early," Neville stuttered. "Besides, I think you're due for an eye exam." Leonora nodded in agreement; Snape hadn't examined her eyes after the first time, only a few days after the injury.

After a while of what felt like endless walking, Leonora heard familiar footsteps. She was instantly reminded of the footsteps that came up to her just before she was apparated out of Malfoy Manor, now knowing that it was Draco Malfoy who rescued them.

"Take me to him," Leonora whispered to Masmi just before telling Neville to wait for her right where he was standing.

"Malfoy!" Leonora called out, hearing his footsteps stop and pivot in place.

"Bishop?" The cool-toned voice replied. As the two met in the middle, Leonora began the conversation. "Harry said you wanted to speak with me."

"Yes, I do remember saying that. I was going to offer you an olive branch, but I doubt you'll need it as much as Potter does. We've never been quite as much. . . at odds, as one would say," Malfoy curiously stated, making Leonora intrigued by the boy.

She knew that he was implying it would be easier for her to talk with Malfoy than Harry found it, as they had never really been on the opposite team. Even though they had an alliance of some sorts, Leonora still felt like she needed some sort of a redemption act from Malfoy. It was his house they were tortured at, and only Merlin knows how many curses his father threw at them.

Not only that, but she knew that he didn't want to be on good terms with Harry or Leonora just because they were on the same side. There had to be something else, Leonora reasoned.

"That's where I'd say you're wrong. Just because you and I have always gotten along doesn't mean I trust you. I know the Malfoys, and you aren't the most. . . trustworthy, shall I say. You have to prove yourself worthwhile," Leonora stated, matching the boy's tone of voice; quiet, but assertive. Questioning, but knowing.

"And apparating you and Potter from the depths of insufferable torture doesn't count as worthwhile?" Malfoy countered.

"You had other reason to do it than out of the goodness of your heart," Leonora mocked, not able to get the satisfaction of seeing Malfoy's brows furrow with annoyance.

"What do you think the other reason was?"

"What do I think, or what do I know? I think you were given some task that you knew you couldn't ever follow through with and you needed out. I know that you were desperate for a solution that you'd take anything anyone suggested, even if it showed cowardice."

"You're calling me a coward for saving your life, you ungrateful bitch!" Malfoy raised his voice, causing Masmi to growl and take a defensive stance towards the boy. Leonora pulled Masmi back to her side and forced him to ignore the blonde boy in front of her.

Leonora caught onto something she wouldn't have if she had sight; his voice wavered with a strong sense of emotion. What emotion was present was not evident, but it had to be strong as it pierced through the Slytherin's defence.

"It's not meant as an insult, Malfoy. I'm just informing you of the facts," Leonora smirked, then explained, "You leaving the Dark Lord by rescuing your nemesis at the hands of death is something a coward would choose over the fear of something else. That something is probably the fear of what He would do to you when you couldn't complete the task. Fear drives cowards, Malfoy, and you know that."

Silence surrounded the two students and, as Leonora knew she didn't hear his footsteps, she figured he was stumped with no clever reply in mind.

"Well, if you manage to think of anything that would make up for everything that transpired in your basement, feel free to contact me," Leonora concluded, turning around and returning to where Neville stood at the end of the corridor. She didn't even bother asking if he had heard as she knew that sound carried far in the halls of Hogwarts.

Leonora and Neville entered the Potions classroom fifteen minutes early, catching Snape organizing the cauldrons and materials onto each desk.

"Miss Bishop. Longbottom," Snape dragged out Neville's name as it pained him to procure the syllables.

"Professor Snape," The two students replied in unison.

"Mr Longbottom, you finish setting up the cauldrons while I attend to Miss Bishop's eyes," Snape demanded from a closer location than before. Leonora felt Neville flinch next to her and stumble forward, quickly setting up the nearest table.

"Follow me," The Professor told Leonora.

Masmi led the girl to the front of the classroom by Snape's desk while he pulled chairs out for the both of them to sit on. When they were comfortable, he started out with a simple light test. He waved his Lumos back and forth near Leonora's face.

"Warm or cool?" Snape questioned. To her, it looked a lot like the shade the sun was. Mostly white but still warm.

"Warm."

"Your photoreceptor cells are recovering well. That was red light," Snape stated while changing his Lumos to a different colour.

"That's sort of in the middle, I think," Leonora observed.

"That's right. It's violet." Leonora couldn't help but let a small smile out as she nodded. It made her feel a lot better that her eyes were regaining strength.

"I didn't expect you to gain the ability to distinguish colours before gaining the ability to use depth perception. Can you see anything besides the lights right now?"

"No, I can't. Just the lights." Snape sighed. Leonora felt disapproval radiating off of him, causing her to ruffle her wolf's ears for comfort.

"I'd like to examine your eyes. May I?" Snape asked for permission to touch her eyes as he stood up from the chair and leaned over her. After Leonora gave permission, he pulled her eyelid back and gave each eye a once over.

"They are significantly more healed than previously, I must say, yet I assumed that your vision would have progressed more than merely colour by now. Are you positive that you cannot see anything else? No shadows, no contrast? Just light?"

"I am positive, sir."

"Have you been applying the Vision Balm every morning and night as I said?"

"Every morning and night," The girl echoed.

"Covering every centimetre?"

"Every centimetre, Professor," Leonora assured Snape. Suddenly there was a loud bang from the other end of the classroom followed by a stammering apology.

"I-I dropped the cauldron, sorry s-sir," Neville rushed to pick up the dropped potions equipment as Snape threw some cutting insults his way. After Neville cleaned up the mess he made and continued to set up each table, Snape resumed his conversation with Leonora.

"Have you had any dreams since the Manor?" He inquired.

"I haven't had any premonition dreams, no. If I had, first thing in the morning I'd be at Dumbledore's office," Leonora explained.

"You've had other dreams? How can you tell that they aren't premonition?"

"Well, Madam Pomfrey had me on Dreamless Sleep every night in the infirmary, but last night in the Tower I had a, uh, dream. I'm never in the premonition dreams and they always have a different feel to them. I can just tell, that's all," Leonora shrugged, noticing herself petting Masmi more than usual. She switched to folding her hands in her lap.

"You had a nightmare," Professor Snape matter-of-factly said, and Leonora could just imagine him crossing his arms across his breastbone with a smug look on his face, though she knew he wasn't. He didn't hate her anymore, that she knew of.

"No, no, I never said that. It was just one of those normal dreams that people have, y'know, no biggie." The girl felt like slapping herself across the face at her use of slang - it made her sound stupid and unintelligent, she knew that, still she couldn't help but let the words slip out when she was nervous.

"It could be more than just a regular dream. The bloodwards may have given you stronger dreams, since after the first dream you ended up blind even after the warnings. Tell me about this nightmare," Snape insisted but received a shake of the head from the girl sitting across from him.

"It was just a dream about my parents punishing me for losing my snake, Silon. I've had this same dream when I was a kid and I'm one-hundred per cent sure that it was not a premonition dream," The girl cooly lied, occluding her mind and shutting down her thoughts. It really did help with concealing the truth in not only a mind-evading defence mechanism way but as a way to close your own subconscious from sabotaging itself with tells.

"You better get to your seat, class is starting soon," Snape sharply ended the conversation as Neville approached his friend to help her pick a seat.

Once everyone else trickled in for the class to start, Snape announced they would be working on a Warmth Potion. Leonora recognized this potion as one Madam Pomfrey gave her when she wasn't able to retain her own heat - the burns destabilized her body temperature.

The class worked in pairs, and with Leonora's luck, she was partnered with Neville. The blind girl working with the inept potions student seemed like a perfect combination for disaster.

"Here, can you cut these seeds in half?" Neville pushed a handful of seeds and a knife to Leonora's side of the table.

"Are you kidding me? You know I'm blind, right?" Leonora exasperated.

"Right, right. I'll do that, you keep stirring clockwise six then counterclockwise three, about two more times," Neville handed the stirrer to his partner as he attempted to cut the seeds.

After Leonora finished stirring and Neville added most of the additives, it was time for the next step.

"So. . . after the Firehearth leaves comes the warmth charm. . ." Neville muttered to himself.

"The charm? I can do that one, if you'd like," Leonora offered, getting her wand from her robes pocket and putting it on the edge of the cauldron.

"Thanks. The incantation is tepidum."

As Leonora incanted she felt the energy surge through her and exit through her wand. The hot steam rose from the cauldron and into the air with a loud sizzle, just as it was meant to.

"I'm just going to add the dragon scales now," Neville commented as Leonora backed away from the hot cauldron.

Before she knew it, there was a loud boom from where the cauldron was and gasps were heard throughout the room.

"Neville, are you okay?" Leonora asked as she heard Snape arrive at the scene.

"I'm fine, just a bit shocked."

"Mr Longbottom, it does not surprise me that you found this potion easy to make a grave error while brewing. The mistake is quite obvious; your use of salmon scales instead of dragon. Miss Bishop, what colour are the scales of the Chinese Fireball dragon?" Snape interrogated.

"It depends on where the scales were taken from. The underbelly is a pale yellow and everything else is a brownish-red," Leonora answered confidently, aware that the whole class was listening.

"And what colour are salmon scales?" Snape asked again, Leonora realising that he was trying to prove her knowledge to Neville.

"They're silver, sir."

"Maybe you should confer with your partner next class, Mr Longbottom. Twenty points from Gryffindor," Snape concluded, and Leonora heard the noise of his cape billowing behind him as he rigidly turned back towards his desk. When Snape was across the room, Neville apologized his heart out.

"Leonora, I am so, so, so sorry. I was trying to make a good potion so you could get a passing grade, and I see now that I should've included you and I feel so bad about it. Really - " The apologizing rant was cut off with Leonora's objections.

"If I wanted to be in charge, I would've. I rather you did it, as I can't read the instructions or see what I'm doing, but if you have doubts about things you should really ask me. I didn't do too bad on my O.W.L.'s, you know," Leonora ended with a smile, taunting her friend.

She knew that Neville got Troll in potions while she got Average, which basically equalled Exceeds Expectations for a Gryffindor in Potions. Unless your name was Hermione Granger, of course.

"I know, I failed, but Leo, I'm so sorry. How can I make it up to you?" Neville begged for forgiveness.

"You can make it up to me by forgetting about it," Leonora waved off Neville's apology, as she hadn't had to forgive him since she was never upset with him in the first place. He was the most genuine and kind person that she'd ever met and because of that, she didn't hold him to the same standards as she did with everyone else.

Neville made a mistake, and Leonora reasoned it with the fact that he had the intention of helping his friend get a passing grade when she couldn't do it herself. If anyone else made the mistake, Leonora would have assumed that they were either too dumb to realize right from wrong, or they were insensitive and careless.

It wasn't long before it was dinner time— Herbology after lunch went by extremely fast for the girl. She wasn't stuck doing nothing like in Potions, as Neville learned his lesson. He took every chance he got to explain Professor Sprout's demonstrations and the textbook reading; Neville even assisted her with the preparation of the soil. Although it was too dangerous for her to attempt planting an Acid-Spitting Vine, even with assistance, she didn't feel left out at all.

At dinner, Leonora settled on eating a grilled-cheese sandwich— something that was never offered in the Bishop residence. They could never settle for anything less than proper, and American food was considered as one of them.

After the witch quickly finished her plate and Masmi's bowl was empty, she headed off to the infirmary to get her potions. The ones she took yesterday were wearing off and she wanted to itch all of her burns, but she knew that would cause more pain than relief.

Leonora heard Neville stand up and she reminded him that Masmi knows where the infirmary is.

"I know, but don't you think I should come with you? Just in case?" Neville stammered.

"No. My legs work fine, and I don't need a babysitter," Leonora said, forcing herself to be calm. She wanted to be angry, but it was Neville. And she didn't want to make a scene.

"I didn't mean that, Leo. I just. . . want you to be safe, okay?" Neville awkwardly stated and Leonora felt her cheeks heat up.

"I get it. I'll be fine, I promise," Leonora responded quickly as she noticed Harry and Ron's conversation cease. She assumed that the two were listening to their conversation, and she hurried to the infirmary with Masmi's handle clasped in her hand.

The walk to the infirmary was uneventful, just as she suspected, but she did find it unsettling that anybody could be in the hallway around her and she wouldn't know unless she heard them or if Masmi notified her. He was trained to subtly nip at her fingers when he thought her safety was threatened.

The dog led her right to the door handle and Leonora confidently walked in and called for Madam Pomfrey.

"I'm here, darling," Her voice replied. Leonora heard the clanking of glass against each other as the medi-witch approached her.

"Take this one first. It's pain relief."

Madam Pomfrey put a vial in Leonora's outstretched hand and she downed it and the two after. As Madam Pomfrey began to examine her wounds, Leonora brought up the Dreamless Sleep.

"Are you having trouble sleeping?" The medi-witch interrogated with a suddenly serious tone.

"No, why?" Leonora lied on autopilot. She didn't want her to know about her debilitating nightmares, but then again, she did want a solution.

"It is crucial for you to get as much sleep as you can to fully recover. Why do you want Dreamless Sleep if you aren't having trouble sleeping?" Madam Pomfrey explained as she recast her repairing charms for the burns on Leonora's arms.

Leonora couldn't remember the last time she got over four hours of sleep, but she knew it was sometime before the incident. She spent so much time using Hermione's suggested Audible charm on the notes she'd given her and on chapters of her textbooks, that by the time she'd be done with her homework, it was already one in the morning.

She contemplated the reason for her sudden studious behaviours, but it wasn't that hard to understand. The more time she spent studying, the less time she had to see it in her dreams.

"It's just because I don't like having dreams, that's all. I'm getting plenty of sleep," Leonora dishonestly explained, sharply inhaling when Madam Pomfrey's wand brushed against the raw skin on her stomach.

"We can't hand out potions to students 'just because'. How are your feet doing? Do your tendons still feel sore?" Madam Pomfrey changed the subject after scolding her.

After the exam, Leonora returned to the Gryffindor common room with Masmi. She retreated to the dormitory after assuring Neville she was fine; he had been waiting for her to arrive since dinner ended.

ஓ๑ ️๑ஓ

The week of Leonora's return to classes seemed to pass extremely slow, and when Friday finally came and it was time to go to Grimmauld Place, she was exhausted.

In every class, Leonora had to work twice as hard as everyone else. Spending a lot of time talking with Hermione about her studies and extra time with all of her teachers drained her energy; Leonora was ready for a weekend of relaxation.

Upon her arrival at Grimmauld Place, she immediately went to her bedroom. She set up Masmi's sleeping mat next to her bed and put his food and water bowls in the corner. With a flick of her wand she filled the bowls with food and water, and immediately the wolf rushed to eat his dinner.

Leonora got dressed in her sleepwear and climbed into bed with her wand and a book. She read for almost an hour using the Audible charm before falling sleep with the book on her lap chest and wand in hand.

 _A sinking feeling was anchored in her stomach, and she was drowning. Not in water, no, but in helplessness. Vulnerability._

 _Her hair was sticking to her face from the sweat, her head was pounding in pain, and her hands were bound behind her back. She couldn't do anything to change her or Harry's fate, and the thought was suffocating her._

 _She felt pain everywhere. Being prodded with wands on her burnt skin and curses thrown at her from all over overwhelmed her senses. She couldn't distinguish the feelings of torment from one another, and each feeling fused together._

 _She knew that if she died, she'd regret everything. She didn't make a positive impact on anyone, or anything, throughout her whole entire lifetime. Her life was a waste and she had accomplished nothing but bring disappointment to the people around her. Neville deserved a better friend. Harry deserved a better family. Her mom deserved a better daughter._

 _She should've been better._

"Leonora! Wake up!" Leonora's eyes shot open and she froze, beads of sweat dripping down her face. She was already leaning up against the wall behind her bed and her blankets were tangled up in her limbs. She felt her wolf's paws on her abdomen, trying to wake her up like he did every night. Leonora softly patted Masmi's head and coaxed him to let go of her.

Harry helped her untangle herself from the blankets and gave her a glass of water. She took a few sips before handing it back to her cousin, who set it on the bedside table. Leonora put her head in her hands and cursed her stupidity for not putting a muffling charm on her room.

"And why would you do that?" A deep voice questioned from across the room. Snape. He must have been standing there the whole time, Leonora realized.

"I- I didn't want to wake anyone," Leonora said, her voice raspy and sore. She figured she must've been yelling loudly for both of them to wake up.

"Do you have these dreams regularly?" He interrogated, stepping closer to Harry and Leonora.

"What dreams?" Leonora denied him, grabbing for the glass of water on the bedside table and taking a few more sips.

"How can you possibly tell me that you weren't having a nightmare! You were thrashing so hard that Harry couldn't even reach you without getting kicked! You were yelling so loud that we thought you were getting murdered! What other excuses could you convincingly tell that would make me believe your lies?" Snape exasperated, shocking Leonora. She knew that he had been suspicious of her having more dreams, but she didn't know how angry he was.

Leonora pursed her lips together and stayed silent, knowing that she was caught. But, she also knew that Harry was having dreams, too. She'd probably have to talk to him about that later, as she was being interrogated by Snape and she didn't want to rat him out.

"We're talking about this downstairs. Now," Snape ordered, quickly leaving her bedroom and angrily stomping down the stairs.

"Harry, what do I do?" Leonora pleaded as he helped her get up and started to walk to the door.

"I don't know," Harry confessed, his voice shaky from fear. He led her to the stairs while she was holding onto his elbow. They departed at the top of the stairwell, exchanging good lucks.

As she cautiously neared the end of the stairs, she entered the library.

"Professor?" She called out, not knowing where he was.

"I'm here. Have a seat," He responded, and by the sound of his voice she knew where he was sitting, and she sat on the couch across from him. She nervously tucked her feet underneath herself as she sat, unintentionally making herself as small as she could.

"Tell me about your dreams, and anything else that is of importance." As Snape spoke, Leonora figured that he had cooled down from his outburst upstairs.

"They're not premonition dreams, not at all, and I promise that they're not important to anyone," Leonora reasoned, trying to talk her way out of talking.

"I understand that. It con- . . . is of concern that you're avoiding this topic to a great extent." Leonora gulped, knowing that Snape was right. Anyone who avoided talking about something was definitely hiding something, and she was no exception.

"I don't have to divulge you of anything, Professor," Leonora smugly replied with her version of 'you can't make me'.

"Then I'm sure the Headmaster would be glad to hear of this," Snape countered, and Leonora could hear the smirk in his voice. He won, and he knew it.

"You wouldn't!" Leonora gasped.

"Indeed, I would. Unless you choose to enlighten me of what you're concealing from me." The girl sighed in defeat. There was no way out of it this time.

"Fine," Leonora stated, Snape waiting for her to continue. "I have dreams about what happened at Malfoy Manor. That's it. Not a big deal." Leonora tried to play it off, but she felt her cheeks redden with embarrassment.

"How often do you have these dreams?"

"I don't know, about. . . every night or so?" Leonora casually responded.

"How much sleep do you get?" Snape continued to question her, to Leonora's disliking.

"Enough," The girl curtly stated.

"That's not for you to judge. Tell me," Snape demanded.

"Five hours or so. Sometimes four. Or three."

"Do you see these things from your dreams when you're awake?" Snape asked.

"Still blind," Leonora replied, although she knew what he meant.

"Are you vividly reminded of the incident by small occasions while you're not sleeping?" Snape irritatedly reworded his question.

Leonora didn't want to answer the question because she knew it meant that she was going crazy. At any random touch, she could be brought back to the worst night of her life.

"Sometimes," Leonora confessed, making her Potions professor sigh. "What?" She asked.

"I have come to the unfortunate conclusion, Leonora," The girl froze at the use of her first name, "that you might be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

"So I'm crazy."

"Not at all. It is common for one to develop PTSD after surviving a traumatic experience. I'm assuming that is why Professor Dumbledore assigned you a guide-wolf," Snape explained, making his student even more confused than before.

"What does Masmi have to do with this?"

"Wolves are commonly used to help people with PTSD, as they can detect when symptoms flare up, and like Masmi, wake you up from nightmares." Leonora nodded, folding her hands across her lap. She couldn't wait for the conversation to be over.

"I can brew a potion that will help with your symptoms. On your way upstairs, can you tell your cousin that I'd like to talk with him?" Snape dismissed the girl and she almost ran out of the room and up the stairs, despite the fact that it was risky for being blind.

Leonora rushed down the hallway until she realized that she had never been to Harry's room. Third door on the left, she remembered. She felt the left wall and counted three doors down until she reached what she assumed was Harry's bedroom. She knocked softly on the door, not wanting to disturb him if he went back to sleep.

The door opened in front of her and Leonora slightly pushed past him and into the room. She sat down on the bed she felt and told Harry to close the door. She then explained to him all of the details of her and Snape's prolonged conversation.

"Why does he want to talk to me? I don't think I'd be able to hold a conversation with that greasy git."

"For fuck's sake Harry, you have to get over your stupid feud with Snape! He's literally living in this house to protect us!" Leonora scolded her cousin, quieting down when she realized that she was being very loud.

"You don't know what he's done to me and my friends. All he's ever done to you was take off a few points for cussing or being rude, ones that you definitely deserved. The last person that I want to talk about my dreams with is him," Harry defended himself.

"Are you sure about that? Your other option is Dumbledore, and I have a feeling that you two haven't been getting along recently." Harry begrudgingly sighed and admitted that his cousin was probably right.

Harry led Leonora to the door of her bedroom and she wished him good luck before departing. Leonora tucked herself back into bed, feeling her wolf climb into bed next to her. She draped her arm around Masmi and fell asleep, not hearing the door open slightly as someone checked in on her.


	4. 4

The morning after Snape's confrontation, Harry recounted to Leonora his conversation with the professor. He was resistant to talk with him at first, but he eventually got it across to Snape that he had the same symptoms as his cousin.

"You don't have to tell me the details, Harry," Leonora waved off her cousin, getting up from the edge of her bed to fill up Masmi's food and water bowls. The Slytherin-esque girl didn't have the curiosity of hearing about anyone else's feelings, and neither did she ever have the intention of sharing her own.

"Okay. He also mentioned that he would have to tell Professor Dumbledore about it," Harry quietly added, knowing that he had to tell her but also that she would get angry.

"What?" Leonora spun around to face Harry, squinting as the morning sun shone through the window behind him. She could see the outline of his head, but mostly the messy mop of hair. It looked untamable, but she remembered a spell that her mother always used on her hair when she had bedhead. Leonora grabbed her wand from her pocket, set it on Harry's hair, and muttered the incantation. The results were immediate as she saw his voluminous mop flatten slightly against his head.

"What did you just do?" Harry frantically asked, and Leonora could see the shadows of his confused hands grabbing at his hair.

"Just fixed your messy hair. It was an eyesore, really. But what's this about Dumbledore?" Leonora asked, putting on a calm facade. The girl hated showing her emotions, both the bad and good. It gave other people the upper hand and made it easier to manipulate, which Leonora had firsthand experience with.

Harry gulped, ignoring his cousin's newfound sight and answered her question. "He said it is part of his duty as a professor to report any disturbances to the headmaster. He also explained that it was necessary for Dumbledore to be informed, because we are vital for winning this war."

Leonora knew where he was coming from, but the only reason why she told Snape was because she didn't want Dumbledore to know. Dumbledore wasn't a confidant— he was pitiful. Someone who feels that much pity was not going to understand you, Leonora believed. Although, she did understand why he should know about Harry's predicament, since he was the one who had to kill the Dark Lord and had to be protected at all costs.

Leonora tried to casually shrug the topic off as if she didn't care who knew about her mental health. She called Masmi to her side, grabbed his harness handle, and exited her bedroom with Harry on her heels. They dined together for breakfast in the antique kitchen before Leonora decided that she wanted to do some reading in the library. She left Masmi with Harry, figuring that they were both enjoying each other's company.

The witch stood up from the creaky wooden dining chair and rounded the corner into the hallway, not thinking she needed help from her wolf to navigate to the library. It was only seconds of freedom from her guide-animal that she collided with someone else, resulting in a set of hands on her shoulders to steady her.

"Shit, sorry sir," Leonora gasped as she steadied herself with the wall and dusted off her clothes.

"You should be more cautious," Professor Snape warned the girl. Leonora thought that she detected an ounce of concern in his voice, but she reminded herself that this was Professor Snape she was thinking of. He didn't have concern for his students.

Leonora nodded in reply, surprised that he didn't take the chance to take points from Gryffindor for her foul mouth. She heard footsteps approach behind her and Harry's voice asking if she was okay. As her cousin noticed Snape's presence, the hallway filled with awkward silence. Leonora didn't even want to think about why Harry and Snape had tension between them— it was probably something to do with the conversation the two had the night before.

The girl waited for the professor to pass her and move into the kitchen so she could enter the library, but he didn't move. Instead, he put a warm vial in her hand.

"What's this?" Leonora wondered, turning the vial over in her hand, awestruck as to how the light reflected off the shimmery glass. It glimmered a light purple and deep blue, shocking the girl with its visible holographic hues. "It's purple and blue, isn't it?"

"It is. Can you see it?" The professor asked what Leonora believed to be a foolish question.

"Only when the light reflects off it. What is it?" She repeated her first question as she turned the vial around in her hand over and over again. She noticed the same colours beside her too; Snape must've given Harry a vial as well.

"Stress Reduction potion mixed with Dreamless Sleep. It is to help you two with your issue," Snape explained, tip-toeing around the topic of the disorder. He had worked with Slytherins all his life and he knew that, although Leonora was not a Slytherin, they didn't like talking about anything remotely personal.

"Is this potion experimental or . . ." Leonora wondered aloud, noticing that he didn't give her a specific name for the potion.

"No, although this is an enhanced batch I brewed for you and Potter. It's called Trauma Diminution, I'm sure you've heard of it," Snape explained.

Newspaper headings rushed to her memory as she remembered the controversy surrounding the potion— it was what St. Mungos gave their newly admitted patients to settle in and help them adjust. It was famously their trademark potion for almost a century before the doctors started to take notice of the side effects it had on their patients. Leonora remembered reading somewhere that most of the wizards who were hospitalized during that era, for a long period of time, died due to complications caused by Trauma Diminution, and the ones who didn't went insane.

"And you expect me to drink this?" Leonora bitterly replied, peeling her eyes off the beautiful glowing bottle to look at Snape's figure with a suspicious glare.

"You don't have to, but I highly recommend it. The people who died from taking this only had complications because they didn't have trauma to rid of. The potion only works if the wizard or witch has symptoms of suffering a traumatic or stressful experience."

"So we could die from drinking this?" Harry irritably asked.

"No. You've suffered great trauma, haven't you?" Snape retorted, and Leonora could hear the sneer on his face. The girl sighed, tired of the pair's ongoing bickering.

Leonora called for her wolf then returned to walking towards the library, not bothering to excuse herself from the conversation. She had never really had a desire to exude manners, as they were forced upon her in the Bishop residence, and the girl found that she despised doing things that other people wanted her to accomplish. Leonora also wanted to distance herself from pureblood tradition and her upbringing as far as possible, even if it meant being rude and impolite.

The witch spent a few hours finding and reading various books about wolves in Sirius' library using the Audible charm. Masmi sat patiently by her side, almost as if he was listening to every word being read by her wand.

The weekend went by quicker than Leonora had hoped for; she spent the rest of Saturday practising occlumency with Snape and most of Sunday doing homework and cleaning the house. By the time Monday came along, Leonora was as exhausted as she was when she arrived at the weekend getaway. It was most likely due to the lack of sleep caused by the decision to refuse the Trauma Diminution potion, as Harry did, too.

"Are you alright, Leo?" Neville asked his friend at breakfast on Monday morning.

"Yes, just tired," She replied while stifling a yawn. She carelessly ate her raspberry jellied toast while purposefully dropping extra bits for Masmi to enjoy.

"How late did you stay up last night?" Neville questioned, but before Leonora could lie, she heard a familiar voice clear his throat behind her. The whole half of the Gryffindor table was silenced as they intently watched the interaction between the two students.

"Malfoy," Leonora greeted him with a mouthful of toast, not bothering to even look behind her to confirm her suspicion.

"I'd like to speak with you." Leonora nodded in compliance and shoved the rest of the piece of toast in her mouth and chewed fiercely.

"Alright, let's go. Masmi," She dismissed herself from Neville, hearing his disapproving stuttering.

"I'll come if you want, but I don't think you should go with him alone," Neville frantically whispered, and Leonora could imagine the worried look in his eyes. She imagined that both of his hands were in his pockets, probably fiddling with loose strings or small buttons to ease his anxiety.

"I can fend for myself, Neville. Besides, I've got a wolf with me. Anyone crazy enough to cause harm to me will answer to him." Leonora assured her friend before leaving the Great Hall with the Slytherin. As they exited, Malfoy led them to the courtyard, even though snow covered the ground. It was almost painful for her to look at since so much sun was being reflected off of it.

The pair sat down on a stone bench after Malfoy applied a heating charm to it.

"I want to start off by saying that. . . I'm not proud of the way I've acted for the past six years, and I can't believe that it has taken me this long to break free from my father and represent who I am, myself. I know that it is going to be hard for people to understand that I've changed, but I think that you, out of everyone, will get it, coming from the Bishop family. And, considering that I have been to your house for dinner annually since we were younger does not help your case—"

"Those were just us accompanying our mothers for dinner. Formalities, I would say," Leonora interrupted the boy's speech.

"Right. What I mean is, we're more alike than you think. We were brought up the same way, were forced to break our familial ties, and we both have the set of skills to survive in a household full of manipulative liars." Leonora lightly laughed at his last statement, knowing he said it to lighten the mood, but also that it had truth to it.

"Did you bring me out here to confess your deepest emotions and wishes for me to lay my trust upon you, or what?" Leonora sarcastically asked, reminding Malfoy that she was almost as Slytherin as he was.

"No, I brought you out here to give you this." Just as he finished speaking, Leonora felt him gently set something cold onto her lap. She cautiously put her hands down to feel the object, and as soon as she did, she screamed. She felt the portkey tug on her stomach as she clutched her snake to her chest, feeling tears fall from her eyes as she was apparated to her doom.

She felt someone pulling on both of her arms and calling her name, and before she knew it, she was back in the courtyard with the bright snow on the ground and Malfoy's voice.

"Bishop, calm down! It's just your snake!" Malfoy yelled as he helped the girl sit back down. Leonora felt Masmi lick her hand and she gave him quick ruffle on his ears before she opened her hands to let Silon free from her tight grasp. The snake slithered down into her robes pocket, spooked by Leonora's episode.

"I-I'm sorry, Malfoy, I don't know what the fuck just happened. I. . . thought I was being portkeyed to my house again, if that makes any sense," Leonora tried to explain, but she frustratedly put her head in her hands as her elbows were propped up on her thighs.

"That kinda makes sense, since that's what happened the last time you held it. . ." Malfoy added, clearly at a loss for what to say at that moment. He had no idea what to do to comfort someone, and he didn't really want to. The whole situation made both of them extremely uncomfortable.

Masmi jumped up from the ground and put his face in between Leonora's arms, trying to separate her head from her hands. Leonora sighed as she sat upright, remembering that this wolf was not only there to guide her but to support her emotionally.

"I didn't mean to cause that, Bishop. I just wanted to return your snake. . . I thought you'd want it back, since you've had it for fifteen years. . ." Malfoy rambled on, wanting to fill the awkward silence.

"It's not your fault, it's mine. That was a very redeemable gesture, Malfoy," Leonora complimented without thanking him— he understood her intentions and nodded although she couldn't see it.

"Did you have a flashback?" The boy questioned as he watched her comfortingly stroke her snake in her lap.

"Well. . ." Leonora replied, turning away from him and facing her wolf. She felt her cheeks warm up, and she assumed they were filled with colour.

"Does anyone else know?" He calmly interrogated. Leonora nodded in response, her eyes focused on the white snow on the ground.

"Harry. Snape. Dumbledore," She listed, mentally adding Draco to that list. She never would've imagined that he would've found out.

"Snape? Why?"

Leonora gulped, remembering that he wasn't yet informed of their living situation. It didn't matter, anyways, as Malfoy knew that she never had such an aversion to the professor as Harry did.

"He supplies me with the proper potions," Leonora dishonestly replied, picturing the purple and deep blue vial sitting on the shelf in the Gryffindor dormitories. She hadn't dared to drink it yet— she couldn't even bring herself to put the vial to her lips. The feeling of distrust and manipulation still lingered with Leonora from the Bishops, even though she knew that she should trust Professor Snape, she couldn't.

"I see," Malfoy responded, but Leonora could hear it in his voice that he was not content. Before she could ask him about it, the surrounding halls were filled with loud footsteps of eager students transporting to their first class of the day.

Leonora and Malfoy both had Care of Magical Creatures together, so he led the girl by the elbow to Hagrid's hut since Masmi had never been before. It was one of the classes that Neville and Leonora didn't have together— Neville took the advanced class instead of the standard level one.

As they arrived, she heard Harry and Hermione's voice, so she unhooked her arm from Malfoy's elbow and walked over towards Harry.

"I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know— Hey, Leonora," Harry greeted his cousin with a pat on the back. "Malfoy," He greeted the Slytherin less pleasantly.

Leonora turned around to face the blonde boy, unaware that he was going to accompany them and Harry during the class. She remembered Neville telling her that he was hated by the Slytherin population, so she tried not to think of him as intruding. He didn't have anyone else to go to, and Leonora's stomach flipped at the thought of Malfoy having to go to her. She couldn't tell what her body's reaction meant; she was never good at deciphering emotions, let alone her own.

It didn't take long until Hagrid arrived, and not long after that did he insist that he put her wolf inside his hut.

"I'm afrayd yer wolf will scare them long-headed-beetles away, and we need those to feed the Fwaps," Hagrid explained as he took the handle from Leonora's grasp and brought Masmi inside. She bit the inside of her lip, partly in anger and partly in discomfort. Leonora did not feel safe without her pair of leading eyes tucked away in Hagrid's hut, and she wasn't sure that it was even allowed for a teacher to confiscate a blind student's guide-animal.

Suddenly there was a tap on her arm and a voice in her ear, what she recognized to be Hermione's voice.

"Are you okay?" Hermione whispered in her ear, causing Leonora to back away from her a few steps.

"Yes," The girl cooly lied, sure that the other girl couldn't tell whether she was telling the truth or not.

When every student was accounted for, the group was led by Hagrid behind his hut. Leonora waited for someone to offer to guide her, and just as well, Malfoy gave her his elbow. The class went by insufferably slow, as she was bored out of her mind. She had no idea what the others were doing, but whatever it was, it was not a task for a blind witch.

"Do you want to hold one?" Malfoy asked her with a long-headed-beetle cupped in his hands.

"Yes," Leonora airily replied, surprised that the boy was thoughtful enough to offer. She held out her palms and intensely stared at the empty space, waiting for him to place the beetle on her. As he did, the sun shone on its wings and gave off a reddish glow.

"It's red," She whispered, intrigued by the feeling of its sticky feet crawling all around her palms.

"How can you tell?" Malfoy questioned as he caught the beetle before it flew away.

"I can see light and colours now," Leonora explained while examining the bug in Draco's hands.

"Do you know when your sight will be back?"

"Snape said the end of the month."

"That's great," Malfoy commented as he put the long-headed-beetle back in the metal cage it belonged in. The rest of the class consisted with Draco doing certain spells on the beetle while Leonora held its wings apart. Hagrid told them that next class, the Fwaps would really enjoy the way that the beetles turned out. Whatever that meant.

Once Hagrid returned Masmi to Leonora, she hurried back to the castle. She convinced herself to ditch History of Magic and spend it in her dormitory; she was going to fall asleep in that class anyway, so why not just be more rested and comfortable in her own bed?

It wasn't long before she woke, Masmi licking her face and laying his whole body on top of hers. Leonora never realized how big the wolf really was until all of his weight was laying on top of her. She lightly pushed Masmi off and sat at the edge of her bed, still gasping for air from her nightmare. The witch was glad she chose to skip History of Magic— if she had had a nightmare in class, she would have been very embarrassed.

The purple and blue shimmering vial in her bookshelf caught her eye, taunting her. All she had to do was drink it, and the nightmares and flashbacks could go away. It could be that simple, or it could not be. She wasn't so sure if she could trust Snape yet; he had been bearable, even cordial towards her, but it could easily be an act. Leonora never knew who to trust, so she always found it best to trust no one.

Something in the back of her head was telling her that she could trust Snape. If Dumbledore, a wizard with great judgement, trusted him enough to be a spy for the Order, then she should trust him enough to simply make effective potions for her and Harry. But it was more than that— he was supposed to be there to keep them from harm, as well. The last two people who had that task failed miserably, managing to blind her and torture her with the Cruciatis curse. Who's to say that he won't turn on them, like her parents did?

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On that Thursday, Gryffindor was to play Ravenclaw in a Quidditch match. It was going to be an obvious Gryffindor win by far, as Ravenclaw's best seeker and chaser finished school the year before. Leonora attended the game with Neville and Hermione, and although the witch didn't usually enjoy Hermione's company, she figured that she'd be tolerable since they were all there to support Gryffindor.

Although the witch couldn't see the game, Lee Jordan's commentary was enough to understand the basics. She appreciated his comical account of the game— it wasn't every day that McGonagall let snide comments about Ravenclaw, or any other house, slide.

After an uneventful win for Gryffindor— Harry caught the snitch while they already had 75 points and Ravenclaw hadn't scored once— everyone returned to the castle to celebrate. Before Leonora got to chance to meet up with Harry after the game she was intercepted with yet someone else she wouldn't mind talking to.

"Malfoy," Leonora greeted the boy as she recognized his voice.

"Hey, Bishop. What a game." The girl heard the smirk on his mouth, causing her to playfully jab at him.

"It might not have been the best game to watch, but at least we won— just wait till Gryffindor plays Slytherin, then we'll see who comes out on top."

"Without their star player, I'm sure Gryffindor will find it easy to beat Slytherin this year," Draco replied, shocking Leonora.

"You quit the team?" Leonora gaped.

"You think I'm a star player, huh?" He teased, causing her to lightly punch his arm. They chatted about nothing in particular until they reached the empty courtyard— it was almost dark and just about everyone was already inside.

"What's the one thing that you miss seeing the most?" Malfoy inquired once they sat down on a bench. Leonora drew in a breath to think, as she had never really thought of it before.

"I guess I'd have to say people's faces. I never realized how much people's faces reveal when they're talking before I couldn't see them," Leonora replied after much thought, and she figured that not being able to read books was a close second.

"You miss not being able to tell if someone is lying to you or not? I expected you to say the stars and constellations, or the beautiful landscapes of Scotland," Malfoy responded while failing to hold in a slight chuckle.

"What?" Leonora questioned his amusement.

"Nothing, it's just . . . you act very Slytherin for a Gryffindor."

Leonora had heard those words many times, but never had she heard them said in an endearing manner. It was always said to hurt her, even though it never did, and it surprised her to hear the approving tone of Draco Malfoy.

"I appreciate it, Draco." Leonora almost cringed as she accidentally let his first name slip, but it didn't matter to Malfoy.

"You're welcome, Leonora. Shall I accompany you to the Tower?" The girl's heart skipped a beat as she heard her name roll off his tongue. She appreciatively accepted his offer, and they walked together in content quietness.

ஓ๑ ️๑ஓ

The weeks whizzed by, and Leonora's eyesight grew stronger than just light and colour by the weekend before the holiday.

"What do you see, in this room?" Snape asked.

Leonora looked around the brightly lit room; she saw Snape, standing near the doorway of the library. He was mighty blurry but still recognizable. She could see the outline of her feet and her hands, but looking in the mirror, her face was too blurry to make out that it was even her.

"I can see you and most of the furniture, but I can't tell exactly where things end and begin. Everything is kinda blurred together, if that makes sense," Leonora tried to explain as she examined everything in the room. It was hard to believe that she had her sight back, even though it wasn't as good. Just two weeks earlier, she couldn't see anything but sunlight, so it was a nice change.

"That's progress. I'd like to explain to you what is going to happen over the next few weeks, regarding your eyesight," Snape began, sitting down in the nearest chair. Leonora took a seat on the couch across from him.

"I'm afraid that the Vision Balm will not be able to restore all of your previous eyesight. Next week will mark the fourth week since the first usage of the balm, and after that, the balm's effectiveness will decrease ninety-eight per cent. I'd advise that you see an optometrist to correct the remaining vision you have. With glasses, you should be able to see well enough to function with normalcy," The professor explained, noticing the cool expression on the girl's face. It was one he was very familiar with— being Head of Slytherin meant dealing with seemingly indifferent students, but hidden deep down he saw that they were just as much passionate and emotional as they were closed off.

"When am I to see this. . . optometrist?"

"Professor Dumbledore already has an appointment set for December twenty-eighth at noon."

"What about Masmi?" Leonora asked the question that was most bugging her, and at the sound of his name, he raised his head from the floor and stared at his owner.

"The wolf is being temporarily leased by Hogwarts, as your impairment is temporary. If you have become. . . attached to the animal, you are able to purchase it." Leonora kept her face neutral, but she was immediately saddened as she came to the realization that she wouldn't be able to afford Masmi. She could barely afford new robes for school, so how was she going to save enough for a wolf?

Leonora and Snape practised her occlumency for the rest of the day, taking breaks for meals. The following day Harry and Leonora woke up early to prepare themselves for their trip to Hogsmeade. She dressed in a black sweater and a brown overcoat with a light green scarf wrapped around her neck. It reminded her of what Draco had said to her only two weeks before, and she found herself smiling at the thought. Leonora shrugged off the feeling and put some galleons and knuts in her trouser pocket.

There was a quick knock on her door just before someone popped their head in, and Leonora recognized the head to be Harry's.

"Are you ready for Hogsmeade today?" Harry excitedly asked, not waiting for a response before picking up Silon from her tank and starting a conversation with her.

"What's so special about Hogsmeade today?" Leonora dully responded as she lazily ran a comb through her curly, black hair.

"What do you mean what's so special? Don't you like Hogsmeade?" Harry looked at his cousin like she had two heads.

"I mean, it's better than being here," Leonora replied, pulling her socks and boots over her feet. She didn't notice the blur of a boy staring at her with curious eyes, almost as if he were trying to figure out a puzzle. Like a light bulb turning on, Harry spoke aloud his suspicion.

"You're bummed because you have to spend time with Ron and Hermione, aren't you?"

"I'm not bummed," Leonora debunked his theory, letting a small smile crawl to her face. She quickly wiped it off her expression as Harry let out an 'ah!', which alerted Masmi.

"You're excited! You're going with someone, aren't you?" Harry accused with a childish tone in his voice. When was it ever his business who Leonora spent her time with?

"No, I'm not! I'm only going with Neville. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get going before we're late." Leonora ushered her pesky cousin out of her room and made her way downstairs to the floo with Masmi. The thought of Draco accompanying her on the visit made her stomach flutter, but she quickly pushed that thought out of her mind as Snape, Harry, and Leonora flooed into Dumbledore's office.

It wasn't long before Harry was reunited with his friends and Leonora with hers. Leonora and Neville walked on the road to Hogsmeade together, coming up with a strategy for beating the crowds.

"I was thinking Dervish and Banges first, so we skip the busyness that comes afternoon. Then, of course, Honeydukes. Afterwards, we can find somewhere to eat. That sound good?" Leonora ran her plan by Neville, who had no complaints.

"I need to stop by Scrivenshaft's— I stepped on my only quill last week," Neville said, and Leonora could imagine him embarrassed and rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's alright, I've done that a couple times, too. While I'm in Dervish and Banges, you can go to Scrivenshaft's. We'll meet up in Honeydukes?" Leonora offered, knowing that he wouldn't like the idea of separating, which made her want to be in solitude even more— to prove that she could do it.

"I-I'm not sure if separating in Hogsmeade is the best way to go, Leo," Neville stammered.

"I can handle it."

"I know, but you've never been here without vision before, so it will probably be easier for you and Masmi to stay with me," Neville lightly countered, trying his best to not start a confrontation. He was not good at confrontation.

"Actually, Masmi's trainer owns a shop in Hogsmeade that is accessible for the visually impaired. Masmi will be very comfortable here, I'm sure of it. Unless this is about something else . . ." Leonora suggested with an accusatory tone in her voice.

"No, no, I want you to be safe, that's it. I'm sure Masmi will take great care of you," Neville defended himself.

As the pair grew closer to the town and the blurred buildings were upon them, they went their separate ways. Masmi had no trouble guiding Leonora to Dervish and Banges— if anything he was more excited to be back in Hogsmeade.

Once she entered the store, she confronted the figure she assumed was the store manager.

"Can you point me to the gift section?" Leonora grudgingly asked for help.

"Of course," The woman replied before she led her to the back corner of the shop. Leonora gave her a nod of appreciation and stood staring at the wall, realizing that it would be hard to pick things out if she couldn't see them.

"Leonora?" A voice behind her asked, whom she immediately recognized as Draco.

"Hi, Draco," Leonora replied with a sigh while squinting at the packages in front of her. It would only be two weeks until she got her vision back, but it seemed to her like she'd be that way forever.

"Are you trying to pick things out? Do you need me to tell you what the choices are?" Malfoy offered, grabbing the object from her hand and reading the label out loud.

"Sneakoscope. For detecting the untrustworthy." Leonora shook her head and put it back on the shelf. She knew that Harry already had one of those.

Draco read several more labels aloud until Leonora found the perfect gift: An eye of Horus pin. It was definitely old, as Draco pointed out the fading orange and blue colours and the many scratches on the surface, but that made it more authentic. No one knew the exact powers of the eye of Horus, but according to ancient Egyptian lore, it is believed to have healing and protective powers that work similar to protective amulets.

"Are you sure you want to buy this? Who knows if it's real, and I know you can't exactly see it, but it's not the most appealing artefact," Draco attempted to convince Leonora against buying it, but she ignored him and gave up three galleons to the store clerk.

Once outside the store, Leonora told Masmi to lead her to Honeydukes. Draco came along for the ride, but once he saw Neville waiting outside the store, he disappeared.

"Was that Malfoy?" Neville questioned as the pair approached the store.

"Yeah. Did you find a good quill?" Leonora changed the subject, trying to figure out why Draco had an aversion to her friend. It could just be that he's a Gryffindor, Leonora reasoned. But then again, she was Gryffindor as well.

ஓ๑ ️๑ஓ

Leonora had one of her best visits to Hogsmeade that Saturday, despite the fact that she was visually impaired. Neville and Leonora got a few sweets from Honeydukes that they ate at the Three Cauldrons, along with a butterbeer for Neville and tea for Leonora. Normally, Leonora was not one to admit that she had a good time, but spending time with her Hufflepuff-esque, plant-loving, and shy, friend lifted her spirits a great deal.

After having a full stomach, they ended their visit with a quick stop at Mr Euwell's Everything for Everyone shop. Masmi almost jumped out of her skin with excitement after greeting his trainer, and Leonora ended up buying two small vials that Mr Euwell convinced her to get. One vial gave the user heightened senses and the other vial gave the user heightened intuition. Some people took them daily, the trainer explained, to help them with the struggles that came with their impairment.

Leonora had never heard of the potions before, but they were cheap, so she decided she would give them a try. If anything, she'd ask for more information from Snape. They couldn't be that bad, she thought.


	5. 5

"I'm sure you two are wondering why I wanted to see you tonight," Professor Dumbledore stated as he let Harry and Leonora into his office. The students sat in the plush chairs he transfigured in front of his own desk.

"Yes, sir," Harry replied.

"As you both know, the holiday starts tomorrow, and you'll have two weeks off from school. Can you guess what I'd like to speak with you about?" Dumbledore lightly spoke, offering some candy to his students. They declined with a slight shake of their head.

"Our housing," Leonora answered, prompting the headmaster to respond with 'Precisely'.

"I'm afraid that there are no other options than the solution I'm about to explain to you, and I have no doubt that you will protest. You two have been doing well at making 12 Grimmauld Place your home, I must say it looks much tidier than before." Professor Dumbledore danced around the dreadful subject of bad news.

"What is the solution, and to what problem?" Harry asked, growing less patient by Dumbledore's games.

"The problem, my boy, is that a fellow classmate of yours has no place to go for the holidays, and the school is not a safe place for him to stay. The solution is that his godfather is willing to take him in, but it is not his place to agree. . ." Dumbledore trailed off as he finished his explanation, hoping that the students understood his implications.

"Draco," Leonora faintly whispered. She had never thought of his personal life much, and it made her feel guilty that she didn't realize the effects of his decision to save her and Harry. His whole life had changed, probably for the worse, but he sacrificed his luxurious lifestyle and family connections to make the right decision for the sake of the war. And that made him technically homeless, unless Snape took him in.

"What— you mean Malfoy wants to stay at our house for two weeks? Professor, you can't be serious!" Harry complained.

"I am very serious, Harry. It is not safe for him at Hogwarts, as many professors and almost all students go home for the holiday, it would be easier for Voldemort to get to him," The headmaster explained.

"Why would Voldemort want Draco Malfoy?" Harry sneered, the hate dripping from his words. Leonora almost flinched at the intensity of her cousin's feelings— she could feel the loathing in the air. It was almost funny to her how easily she could read Harry, even though she was blind.

"Did you not expect Voldemort to want all three of you after you slipped through his fingers? All of you are high on the wanted list— it was a big price for Draco to pay, but he knew what he was doing," Dumbledore added, making a good case for Draco. Harry was silenced, and Leonora could see that his head and angled towards the ground and his leg was tapping rapidly.

"Leonora, may I ask what you think of this? You seem unusually quiet," The professor questioned, and Leonora shrugged.

"I. . . don't think it's our right to deny someone a home, especially at Christmastime, and especially someone that has saved us from an unfortunate fate. It might not be ideal for you," Leonora turned to Harry, "but it's the right thing to do, and isn't that your thing?"

"Since when have you and Malfoy been so close, and when have you cared about doing the right thing?" Harry angrily lashed out.

"Draco is. . . not my enemy, and he shouldn't be yours, either," Leonora retorted with awkward phrasing— she had always tried to avoid the term 'friend' at all costs, as her trust was broken easily.

"Why are you so forgiving all of a sudden? Malfoy spent five years making everyone's life hell, and you find that easier to forgive than Ron and Hermione, who have done nothing to you?" Harry responded.

"I would welcome your friends to the house at Christmastime, although you can't say the same for mine."

"So now you're friends, huh?"

"Why does it matter? It is cruel to deny somebody a home with their family at Christmastime just because you aren't on good terms with them!" Harry stubbornly huffed at her statement, and the two students looked back at Dumbledore. Leonora would've done anything to see his expression after watching the pair argue before his eyes, but all that she could make out was the peachy blur of his skin and beard.

"So it's settled. Draco will be staying at your house for the holiday. I'm glad we could come to an agreement—"

"But—" Harry interrupted.

"Ah, where did the time go? I'm afraid that you two better get going to avoid curfew," The headmaster ushered the students out of his office, leaving Harry sputtering in disagreement outside his door.

Leonora and Harry walked separately to the Tower, although they were only feet apart in distance. The witch found it amusing how close-minded and petty the other boy was, figuring that Snape's dislikement toward him was almost justified.

Still, Leonora knew he'd come around. Family always did, right?

ஓ๑ ️๑ஓ

"So Dumbledore says you're coming home with us for the holiday," Leonora started the conversation with the blond boy. The pair were sitting on a bench in the empty courtyard, Masmi napping by their feet.

"If that's alright with you— it was Snape's idea, really, since I had no idea of the whole housing situation with you three anyways. . ." Draco trailed off, seemingly in thought.

"I'm fine with it, trust me, but it's Harry you've got to worry about. He hates the idea, but I think he'll get used to it."

"I didn't really care if he thought I was intruding— he should be used to that by now," Draco let out a quiet laugh, then, "I care about if I'm intruding on you." Leonora looked up from her lap and to the boy next to her. In all of her years of knowing him, she never believed that he would care about anything, or one, besides himself. She would've never believed that his words could hold any emotion besides fear or hatred, but sitting next to her was living proof that he was able to produce meaningful thought.

"I'd really like for you to stay with me at Christmastime, Draco," Leonora replied, her voice quieter than it had ever been before.

"I'd like that, too," He said.

After soaking in the good feelings for a while longer, Leonora remembered to ask her friend about something that she was wondering about.

"You know, I never knew that Snape is your godfather."

"Yes, he is. He and Lucius went to school together. I'm surprised he's not yours as well." Leonora raised her eyebrows and urged him to elaborate.

"You know, Rician, Lucius, and Snape were close growing up. Didn't your father tell you?"

"No, I never knew that!" Leonora let the fact sink in. The pair continued to chat about school, and upon Draco bringing up Potions, Leonora was reminded of the vials she bought from Mr Euwell.

"Do you happen to know anything about potions that enhance the user's hearing and intuition?"

"Why?"

"Masmi's trainer sold some to me in Hogsmeade, but I didn't want to use them without any knowledge of their effects."

"Leonora, those potions are banned to be sold to underage people. He could get in serious trouble for selling you those."

"Oh. But why would he have done it, then? He knows that I'm a student at Hogwarts."

"I can't tell you for sure, but what I can say is that it seems sketchy. You should probably ask Snape," Draco replied, and the pair heard a deep voice clearing his throat. Immediately from the sound, Leonora could tell that the Potions Master was standing in the hallway behind them.

"Yes, even you, Mr Malfoy, are obligated to refer to me as Professor Snape. Are you packed for tomorrow yet?" Snape stood beside Draco, causing him to stand up and dust off his robes.

"Not yet," Draco replied, casting a glance back at Leonora. She pursed her lips together and shook Masmi awake from his nap.

"You better get to it. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Miss Bishop," Snape dismissed himself, and Draco said goodbye before returning to the dungeons. Leonora and Masmi returned to the tower themselves, and she noticed a boy with a head of black, moppy hair retreat to the dormitories just as she entered through the portrait.

The next day, Snape, Harry, Draco, and Leonora met in Dumbledore's office to floo to 12 Grimmauld Place. As Draco entered their house, he was shown to the guest room by Leonora.

"I think it's just right up here," Leonora guides Draco, opening the first door on the left at the top of the staircase. She saw a blurry bed in the middle of the room which reassured her guess.

"My room is right there," Leonora turned and pointed to her door, then, "And Harry's is the third door on the left."

"Where is Snape's?" Draco questioned as he brought his trunk into the room and started unpacking with flicks of his wand.

"I don't know. . . I've never really thought about it. He spends most of the time in the potions lab and the library," Leonora confessed, thinking that he probably took the Black's master bedroom, wherever that was.

"Is that so?" Draco muttered in reply, concentrating on changing the colours of the room's decorations to green.

Feeling that Draco wanted space to unpack his things in his room, Leonora dismissed herself and returned to her own room. As she held Silon on her lap, she read a book with her wand speaking all the words aloud.

She could see the pages of the book, but the words were like spilt ink on parchment paper. The girl figured that her vision couldn't be too much worse than Harry's— she could get around places she was familiar in without Masmi and she was starting to recognize people again. It dawned on her that the next week, she'd be able to see clearly with glasses on. After two months of being visually impaired and legally blind, she was finally going to be able to see again, and just the thought of it excited her.

It was hours later when Leonora smelled something good coming from the kitchen, so she set her book down and headed downstairs to see what Harry was cooking for dinner— she had eaten some sweets that she got from Honeydukes as a snack for lunch and her stomach was already growling from the lack of nutrition.

Leonora entered the kitchen without Masmi by her side; she decided not to wake him from his nap, as she could navigate in the house by herself. Squinting, she was surprised to see Harry hand-stirring what looked like a huge pot of soup. With a twist of her wand, the wooden spoon slipped from her cousin's hand and stirred the soup itself.

"I'm surprised to see you down here, Leo," The witch almost winced at his use of her nickname, then, "I thought you'd be prancing around with Malfoy, practising the Dark Arts," Harry angrily accused, getting plates from the cabinets and harshly putting them on the kitchen table.

Leonora didn't reply but instead used her wand to make the plates move on their own with metal goblets following right behind them.

"Where did you get this food from?" Leonora questioned, remembering just the past weekend how they had used dusty cans of tomato soup they had found in the backs of the cupboards. From what Leonora could see, Harry added carrots, potatoes, and chicken to the soup, which made for a much fancier meal than canned tomato soup.

"The kitchen was stocked up when I came down here for a snack. Figured I'd make something," Harry replied with a shrug, cooled off from his earlier comment. Leonora nodded and assisted him, helping him to learn the spells used in the kitchen— just as her mom had taught her.

It wasn't long before Snape and Draco joined them for the meal, and they all ate in silence at the kitchen table. All that could be heard was Harry's slurping, which Leonora assumed he did to annoy Draco, and the occasional clank of a metal spoon against the bowl.

"Where's Masmi?" Harry questioned his cousin, breaking the endless silence.

"Sleeping," Leonora curtly replied, bored of the topic before it even started. She turned to Snape and asked, "Professor, Mr Euwell sold me potions that heighten hearing and intuition, and I was wondering what you knew about such potions?"

"Mr Euwell? The same one who trained your wolf, I presume?" Snape asked, and after receiving a nod he spoke again. "Such potions have been prohibited to be sold to individuals not of age because of their unpredictable potency. I would like to see these potions, Miss Bishop."

After everyone finished eating, Leonora summoned the two vials. Snape intercepted them both before they got to her hand; it was probably for the best, as she would not have been able to see them to catch it properly.

"Yes, these do seem to be two of the three Perception Strengtheners, although they are very much so diluted that he could argue they were his own batch of a self-made brew, and that he ultimately did nothing unlawful," Snape concluded, making Leonora more curious than she had been before.

"What is the third Perception Strengthener?" Leonora wondered aloud.

"That is knowledge you do not need to be aware of," The professor dismissed her question, standing up from his seat at the kitchen table. His dinner dishes were then cleaned and back into their cabinets in the blink of an eye, and he exited the kitchen.

The witch turned to Draco and without a word, he began to explain.

"The third Perception Strengthener is the Tactile Strengthener, and he didn't want to bring it up for obvious reasons," He explained.

"Tactile as in. . . touch?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, like feelings and sensations," Draco responded with an annoyed tone.

"So why wouldn't he want to bring that up?" Leonora asked.

"Do I have to spell it out for you Gryffindors? People not of age would use it when shagging each other! That is the main reason why the series acquired a ban!"

"Oh," Harry and Leonora replied in unison, and they both felt their faces go red. Leonora regained her composure before asking her next question.

"So. . . do I use these or not?" Leonora asked Draco.

"Well, Snape didn't say either way. They're diluted, so he probably wouldn't even notice if you did. Just one drop will do it," Her friend advised, looking on as she uncapped Intuition Strengthener and put one drop on her tongue.

"What do you feel?" Harry asked.

"Nothing. I feel normal," Leonora replied, looking to Draco for an explanation.

"Intuition is not something that interferes with normalcy, but a gut feeling. The ability to understand something without given reason. Knowing something you logically couldn't have known. The feeling—" Draco was cut short.

"Okay, we get it, we don't need more definitions," Harry snapped.

Leonora's attention suddenly focused on Harry, and she found herself subconsciously analyzing him. He had all the reason to dislike Draco, but even more reason to tolerate him. Why wouldn't someone be grateful that their life was saved? He probably felt threatened by Draco's presence in Leonora's life, but why? He didn't want someone to rip his only family away from him.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"I dunno. Thinking," Leonora replied, her focus now on Draco. He wasn't trying to annoy Harry, but he actually let most of Harry's petulance slide. Why? Draco wanted to be on Harry's good side, but why? Did it have something to do with Leonora? Did he want Harry to approve of their friendship? Why would he need Harry's approval? Why did he disappear every time Neville was around? Did he feel threatened? Why would Neville threaten Draco? What did Neville have that Draco wanted?

"Trust."

"What?" Draco asked, wide-eyed.

"What?" Leonora said.

"You just said 'trust'." He responded.

"I don't like this potion, Draco. I can't stop all the questions. . . there are so many unanswered questions. . ." Leonora frantically rambled.

"It's alright, it'll wear off in half an hour. Don't panic— you'll be fine. Unanswered questions are not necessarily a bad thing," Draco reassured her. Why would he reassure her? She had never seen him be so calm and patient with someone else, what was different about her?

Upon remembering that Harry was in the room, her attention shifted yet again. Was Draco trying to prove himself to be a good friend while Harry was watching? Wasn't saving someone's life enough? Not to Harry, though, since he did that often and was very familiar with the concept. He didn't understand how much of a struggle it was for Draco to rid himself of his family name and go against everything he was brought up to do, and just to disapparate two of his classmates out of his basement. Harry had become too used to being heroic that he forgot what it was like to have to work up the courage to do anything.

"Draco, isn't there something you can give me to stop all of this thinking? I don't want to know this much about you two," Leonora complained.

"I think that you're thinking too much because you're not occupied. Let's do something," He offered, and before Leonora knew it, she and Draco were playing Wizards chess in the library while Harry was playing with Masmi in his bedroom.

"Are you sure you want to make that move?" Leonora said, a sly smile making its way to her face.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Draco replied, watching as Leonora made the winning move.

"Maybe I should take this potion every time I play chess with you," Leonora commented after her victory.

"Yeah, maybe," Draco laughed, then, "What were you talking about when you said that you didn't want to keep thinking about us?"

Leonora bit her lip, not wanting to lie but also not wanting to confide in him— but wasn't that what friendship was about?

"It was just making me question things about you. Kind of forcing me to understand why you two do what you do, you know?" Leonora tried to explain.

"The potion was making you analyze the people in your life?"

"Just you and Harry, so I guess it was whoever my attention was on. I really don't know, but it was overwhelming because the more I thought about you, the more questions it raised. . ." Leonora trailed off, feeling stupid for bringing it up. She knew she didn't want to talk about it, but she felt an urge to.

"Harry didn't raise any questions?" Draco asked.

"Yes, but my mind basically answered them for me."

"And mine weren't answered," Draco concluded.

"Right."

"So. . . do you want me to answer them?" He asked, making Leonora's mouth gape open. It was rare that a private person such as Draco would offer an opportunity to get to know them on a deeper level, and Leonora recognized that intimacy of knowledge.

"If you want to," She said. Draco nodded, awaiting her questions.

"What is with you and Neville?"

"There is nothing with Neville and I. I just don't want to intrude on your friendship."

"Is that it?" Leonora asked, a suggesting tone in her voice.

"No," He curtly replied, leaving Leonora in the dark as he refused to explain more. He asked her to move on to the next question.

"Why do you want Harry's approval of our friendship?"

"I never said I did."

"You never said, but your actions show that you do." Draco sighed, but explained as best he could.

"I felt bad for bringing a wedge between you and your Gryffindor friends. I knew it would cause tension, so I guess I'm trying to be my best so he warms up to me. I don't need his approval, or anything."

"That makes sense," Leonora said, but before she could ask another question, she heard a voice come from the doorway.

"You took Intuition Strengthener," Snape said, and Leonora couldn't tell if he was angry or not. But how did he know? He most likely saw the vial sitting on the kitchen table and noticed it was less full.

"And?" She retorted, not realizing that her tone of voice was not befitting for the conversation, and she didn't know what made her say it that way.

Snape just shook his head and frustratedly exited the room, his robes billowing behind him. Why didn't he take points from Gryffindor? He probably felt bad for her, but why? He didn't seem like the type of person to have pity for someone else, so what was different? Snape and Rician were close growing up, so maybe seeing how he treated her made him want to be different. He felt guilty for the way that she was raised with the knowledge that he could've done something about it.

"What just happened?" Draco questioned, pulling the girl out of her trance.

"I'm guessing that he probably didn't want me to ingest it without him testing to see if it was safe. That's what he's probably going to do now," Leonora observed.

"Wow. This potion does make you a whole lot smarter," Draco teased, earning himself a glare.

The rest of the day went by quickly— Leonora read a book on the history of Herbology (she promised Neville she'd finish the book during the holiday so she could be of more assistance in his extra work). Snape didn't come out of the Potions lab until the next morning, and he handed Leonora her potions back.

"They are clean. I advise buying potions from reputable sources next time, Miss Bishop," Snape said as he picked a book and sat on the couch across from the student.

"Yes, sir," She groggily replied, putting them in her pant pocket.

"Did you get any rest last night?" He asked with a suspicious tone in his voice.

"Yes, I did," Leonora lied.

"Is the Trauma Diminution functioning properly?"

"I . . . haven't tried it yet," The girl honestly replied, remembering how the shimmery potion sat atop of her dresser.

"Why not?"

"I don't know," She shrugged, her arms feeling itchy from the uncomfortable tension in the air.

"I think if you give it a chance, it'll prove itself useful," Snape stated, his eyes still on his book. Leonora knew he was trying to be casual but also persuasive, as her father used to do the same thing when she was younger.

"Professor?" Leonora began, and Snape's focus shifted to the witch.

"You knew my father, right?"

"I did."

"What was he like? I mean, before he became a Death Eater, what was he like?" Leonora curiously asked, bracing herself for the answer.

"Well. . . he was very smart, top of the class. He had a very subdued personality— he was soft spoken and had great manners. He had always wanted to become an Astrologist, hence the names of you and your sister."

"I know Elettra's name is a star, but I don't think mine is," She said.

"You are right— your name isn't a star, but the root, Leo, is a constellation," He explained.

Leonora didn't need to ask why her father had changed; the stress of being in the Bishop family and the requirement to serve The Dark Lord in the first war takes a toll on people, even the best of them.

"Your father," Snape paused with a sigh, then continued, "was misguided by his friends and family and was tied to The Dark Lord by his last name. He thought he had no choice but to throw his dreams away or face death, but you are proof that there is a third option." Leonora let the words sink in, analyzing every word. It was hard to imagine her ruthless father as once a good man, but it was definitely plausible.

Just as Leonora was about to thank him, the floo was lit with green flames and a figure stepped out from the fireplace and onto the library floor.

"I was told you'd be arriving at noon," Snape said with annoyance in his voice, snapping his book shut.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I had a few things I had to do," The familiar voice said, and Leonora couldn't remember who the man who stood in front of her was.

"It is nice to see you, Leonora," The man said, and Leonora replied with a quiet 'You too'. Upon hearing the presence of a new person in the house, Leonora heard Harry and Draco cautiously walking down the stairs.

"Professor Lupin?" Harry said, igniting old memories for Leonora from her third-year Defence class. She knew that the slouched figure with both hands in his pants pockets looked familiar, but she just couldn't place it before then. Harry and Lupin engaged in a short-lived hug before the professor explained the reason for his visit.

"Professor Dumbledore has asked me to get you three out of the house before you go stir-crazy. We'll be going to Hogsmeade, and I think you'll be happy to hear that Hermione and the Weasleys are already there," Lupin explained, and Leonora could imagine the idiot smile that Harry always had on his face when his friends were mentioned. Leonora and Draco made eye contact and he jokingly pretended to make himself gag, forcing the girl to repress her giggles.

"But, Professor, isn't it dangerous considering that we're wanted by The Dark Lord?" Harry asked.

"Not any more dangerous than a school Hogsmeade visit," Lupin said, "You'll be fine."

"Alright, I'll go get my things," Harry said with excitement in his voice before he rushed up the stairs. Leonora was unsure about whether Draco and herself were invited, so she asked.

"It's less of an invitation, I think, and more of an instruction from Dumbledore. He wants everyone to go," Lupin casually explained, but Leonora heard the strain in his voice. Leonora and Draco followed Harry up the stairs, the witch cautiously holding onto the railing.

After she grabbed her wallet (with barely anything in it), a winter scarf, and Masmi, she returned to the foyer where she heard new voices.

"It is unbelievable how much cleaner this place is since the last meeting," A voice growled.

"It's almost livable!" Another voice claimed, much cheerer and younger than the first. Then, a loud clank came from the foyer, and a lot of muttered apologies followed. Somebody must've knocked over the coatrack, Leonora thought.

As she carefully trekked down the stairs— the descent was harder than the climb— the voices ceased and she could feel eyes on her.

"Leonora, this is Alastor Moody and Nymphadora Tonks," Snape introduced them, probably sensing her nervousness at the new people. She remembered the name Moody, and how he was supposed to be a Hogwarts professor but was instead impersonated by Barty Crouch Jr with a polyjuice potion.

"It's nice to meet you," Leonora said, putting her hand out to the nearest unfamiliar figure and received a firm handshake from a soft hand, assuming it was from Nymphadora Tonks.

"I go by Tonks," She told her, receiving a polite nod from Leonora— it took great strength and self-control to force herself to be mannerly. She looked for the other figure so she could shake his hand as well, but heard his growling voice in the other room with Harry; he hadn't stayed to greet her.

Leonora pursed her lips and hid her disappointment, readjusting her grip on Masmi's harness and awkwardly shifting her body weight. She couldn't help but notice how nobody rushed to explain to her why these people were here.

When Draco was finally ready, everyone took turns in the library flooing to Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts. It was a much shorter way to Hogsmeade than travelling from where they were, and the six of them were reunited with the Weasleys in no time.

Leonora and Draco stuck close by, not involved in any of the heartfelt holiday greetings the rest of the group had. It had been a long while since Leonora had seen Harry interact with the Weasleys, and she almost forgot how affectionate everyone was with him. One would say that she was almost jealous, but Leonora shook that thought out of her head immediately.

"Moody's magical eye is watching you, Leonora," Draco whispered into her ear, and she could sense how he was pretending to look behind them as to make himself look casual.

Leonora looked around the blurry crowd of red-headed wizards, not able to fish out Moody. It didn't matter, though, as Mrs and Mr Weasley began to split the crowd up into groups.

"I'll take Bill, Remus, Ron, and Harry," Mr Weasley announced.

"And Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George, Leonora, and M—Draco. . . are with me," Mrs Weasley said, stumbling over Draco's name. The two groups split up, leaving the two Aurors to be on a lookout from a distance.

Leonora and Draco felt incredibly awkward being surrounded by people who took a disliking to them, so they didn't stay close to the group, and nobody complained.

"What do you mean his magical eye was watching me? Was the other one looking forward?" Leonora questioned over Draco's laughter. "I'm glad to think you find this funny."

"Yes, his glass eye was looking your way! I'm being honest, I swear!" Draco said, a hint of amusement still etched in his voice.

"I don't think he likes me. When I came downstairs to greet him and Tonks, he dodged me— I was being polite and everything!" She exclaimed.

"Oh, what a rarity! The young Bishop exuding manners. How Snape would be proud, indeed," Draco joked, earning himself a slew of unladylike words from Leonora.

It wasn't long until the group made their first stop— a clothes shop, requested by Ginny and Hermione. Mrs Weasley and the two girls entered the shop, leaving the twins, Leonora, and Draco to wait outside the shop.

"You sure you don't want to go in? I hear their selection is very, may I say, trendy, with the girls," Draco teased.

"Shut the fuck up," Leonora lazily tossed the phrase, taking a strip of raw meat from her pocket and feeding it to her wolf.

"Where—"

"The fridge," She said.

Suddenly, Masmi's head jerked up from Leonora's feeding hand. He started to growl in the direction that the Weasley twins were standing.

"We were just testing out our dog whistle," One of them stated.

"Maybe it doesn't work on wolves. They have different—"

"Ears," The other one finished the sentence.

Leonora, although annoyed, kept her mouth shut and calmed down her guide-wolf. It would only be days until she would have to live without him.

Mrs Weasley and the girls soon exited the shop, and the group stopped at a few more shops until meeting up with the others for lunch before they all headed home. Leonora nor Draco bought anything, as they felt too awkward requesting a stop, so they returned to 12 Grimmauld place having had an uneventful trip. Harry, on the other hand, was excited because Mrs Weasley allowed for Ron and Hermione to stay with Harry for a few days. Of course, Harry was the only inhabitant of the four house-members that was pleased by the news.

Having shown Hermione and Ron their room with two twin beds in it, Leonora collapsed onto her own bed and fell soundly asleep, dreaming of the event that always haunted her, day and night.


End file.
